


I Shall Return to Where I Began

by NoisyNoiverns, xMidnightSun



Series: Rise & Reign [5]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-03-04 21:09:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3089867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoisyNoiverns/pseuds/NoisyNoiverns, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xMidnightSun/pseuds/xMidnightSun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thie'Haasn finally completes his Pilgrimage, with a little help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. That Horrible Sinking Feeling You Get When Mom Cries

The apartment was far quieter than it had any right to be with four people home on a weekend.

Sephira sat at the kitchen counter, staring into a cup of tea that had long gone cold. Maybe if she could make sense of the geometric designs painted on the bottom of the mug, Axilus would come out of his room. Maybe if she could find a picture in the series of meaningless shapes, Thie would make a sound.

Maybe if one thing made sense, everything would be okay.

There was a clatter on the balcony, and she jumped with a startled squawk, knocking the cup over and spilling tea across the counter. She whined softly to herself, then reached for a rag. “Be careful, would you?”

She dimly regretted snapping when the new arrival padded inside and asked tentatively, “You okay, Seph?”

She sighed and started wiping up the spilled tea. “Not really, no.”

Aephis hummed, walking into the kitchen. “No change then, I take it?”

“No.” Sephira sighed again and turned to lean against the counter, mandibles drooping. “Aephis, I don’t know what to do here. It’s been two Palaven months since they picked him up off that colony, and there’s still barely any sign of improvement in Thie, and Axilus... I’ve never seen him so… _despondent_. He's recovering faster than Thie, but still. It’s not like him.” Her voice cracked as she added, “I want my baby back, Aephis.”

“Hey, hey.” Aephis pulled her into a tight hug, touching his frontal plate to hers. “Shh. It’ll be okay. Remember D- Temple Palaven? You didn’t bounce back right away from that, either. Give it time. Ax is a strong kid.”

“But you heard your father,” she insisted. “He thinks Ax has _lumentis_. He’s a hundred and three, I think he knows what it looks like!”

“Seph, Seph, shh.” Aephis nuzzled her gently and ran a hand down her back. “I know. I’m worried about him, too. But you have to be patient.”

“I…” Sephira took a deep, shuddery breath, then tucked her head down to rest next to Aephis’ neck. “How did you deal with me?” she asked softly.

Aephis hummed, hugging her a little bit tighter. “I let you work through it on your own, and I was there for you when you needed me. It’s all I _could_ do.”

Sephira fluttered her mandibles slowly, then sighed and rubbed her cheek ridge against Aephis’ neck. “I really love you, you know?”

Aephis chuckled. “I’ve known that for… oh, going on twenty-six years now, isn’t it?” He twisted his head about so he could kiss the back of her neck, then patted her cowl. “Come on. They’re talking again, aren’t they? That’s progress. And it’s almost time for lunch. You call them out, I’ll run across the street for take-out. Deal?”

She sighed and moved away from him, picking up her rag again and starting to clean up the spilled tea she’d missed. “Deal. Don’t be too long. The quiet is unnerving.”

“Will do. If I’m not back in… say, half an hour, send the rest of that pie your dad sent us in after me.”

Sephira rolled her eyes. “I swear, you’re just a stomach on legs. Go.”

She tossed the rag in the sink as Aephis took a running leap off the balcony again, then sighed and put her hands on her hips, steeling herself for what she knew she had to see.

She went to Axilus’ room first, knocking on the door twice and calling, “Axilus?”

There was silence for a moment, then the door opened, her son standing on the other side. His eyes were half-lidded and his shoulders sagging, but his mandibles twitched upwards when he saw her. “Hi, Mom.”

She hummed and touched her nose to his. “Hi, baby. How are you feeling?”

Axilus blinked slowly. “Not… good, but not… bad? I don’t know…”

Sephira suppressed a soft whine and reached to gather Axilus close to her. “Come here, baby,” she murmured, taking a step back to brace herself as Axilus slumped against her. “It’s okay, Axi,” she hummed, nuzzling him slowly. “ _Mari_ ’s here, _Mari_ ’s got you.”

“Mom _,_ I’m okay,” Axilus mumbled into her cowl.

“Axilus, please don’t lie to me. Not now.”

Axilus was quiet, then slowly raised his arms to hug her. “Sorry, _Mari_ ,” he whispered.

“Shh, it’s okay.” She pulled away and looked him over, then sighed. “Your father's out getting lunch, he’ll be back soon. Come on out to the main room, you know you’re not supposed to eat in here.”

One of Axilus’ mandibles twitched, and she sighed again. “You’ve got half a loaf of bread and three meat and cheese platters under your bed, don’t you?”

“No,” he said indignantly, tilting his head up. Then he lowered it sheepishly. “Two loaves of bread, five meat and cheese platters, half a pizza, and the leftover _telal_ sauce from breakfast yesterday.”

“Spirits, at least your brother just emptied the fridge in one go, he didn’t take it back with him. Bring it back to the kitchen when you come out, I don’t want bugs.”

“Yes, _Mari_.”

“That’s my boy. And put on something other than surf shorts, that’s the same pair you wore to bed last night. And don’t pretend it’s not, I sang you to sleep.”

“But _Mom_ , they’re comfortable!”

“Of course they are, they’re a salarian fashion adapted for other species. They know style.”

“I thought it was a human fashion?”

“We let them think so. Your _marmat_ has pictures of _Marpat_ in surf shorts when they were dating, and that was _ages_ before humans showed up. At least change shorts before coming out. I’m going to talk to Thie.”

“Okay, okay… Let me know how he is if he doesn’t come out, okay?”

“Of course, _lidan_.” She kissed his cheek and gently pushed him back into his room. “Now go change and gather your contraband.”

Axilus huffed at her but turned away, hitting the door control on his way. Sephira sighed and shook her head, muttering, “ _Teenagers_.” Some things were just too deeply ingrained for sadness to affect.

Now for the worse of the two cases.

It took her a bit to knock on the guest room door. She swore she could feel an oppressive air leaking out from the crack under the door, dragging up memories of months she’d buried. But that wouldn’t do any good right now, so she swallowed it down and knocked. “Thie?”

No response. She sighed and knocked again. “Thie’Haasn.”

Again, no response. She huffed a bit and considered just going in anyway, but decided against it and instead just said, “We’re having food in a few minutes. Come out and join us, before you grow roots and have to stay in the room next to the master bedroom, where I have loud, rough sex with my husband, forever.”

Maybe ten minutes later, Aephis returned to find Axilus at the kitchen counter, Sephira calmly putting away the food Axilus had brought out of his room, and Thie huddled on the couch.

Sephira glanced up at the scrape of talons on the balcony and flicked a mandible. “Good, you’re just in time. Thank you, _carrisim_.”

“Any time.” Aephis deposited the bags of food on the counter, then quickly moved them out of Axilus’ reach when he started to take one. “Ah-ah-ah, you know the rules,” he scolded. “Parents eat first, _then_ children. Did we forget our manners during basic?”

Axilus scowled. “Dad, I’m not a kid!”

“So? If your grandparents were here, they’d get food before your mother or I did. It’s not a matter of how old you are, it’s a respect thing.”

“ _Mom_ , Dad is-“

“Oh, enough, both of you,” Sephira snapped. “Spirits, Tollak isn’t even here and you _still_ find a way to give me a headache.”

Axilus whined and tilted his head to expose his neck. “Sorry, _Mari_.”

Sephira snorted, then hesitated. Then she sighed and shook her head. “It’s okay, Axilus. I’m not having a very good day today. Why don’t you go get Thie some nutrient paste while your father and I sort out food for the three of us?”

Axilus whined again, more softly this time, then sighed and stood up. “Okay, _Mari_.”

He grabbed a tube of nutrient paste off the neat little pile of them Sephira had made by the cookie jar and plodded over to the couch, fluttering his mandibles slowly. “Thie?”

Thie twitched, but otherwise didn't move, his head tucked down so his mask was pressed against his knees and Axilus couldn't see his eyes.

Axilus sighed and sat down next to him, prodding him with a talon. “C’mon, Thie, you need to eat.”

Thie lifted his head slightly, then put it back down.

Axilus flicked his mandibles in irritation. “ _Thie_ ,” he said firmly, “you gotta eat. You barely even touch these things, much less eat them. You’re gonna starve to death.”

Thie mumbled something. Axilus tilted his head slightly and leaned closer. “What was that?”

Thie turned his head enough so Axilus could see one eye. “So?”

Axilus froze. What did he even say to that? _Yell for Mom_ , part of his brain suggested. She’d know what to do. Mom knew everything. No, no, don’t yell for Mom. Thie had been responding best to him lately. Why, he didn't know. Frankly, he didn't _care_ , either. Just so long as Thie was responding to somebody, he’d be happy.

 _Focus, Madelivio_ , he scolded himself. Why should Thie not starve to death… He racked his brain, then clicked the tips of his talons together. “You said you have a stepmom, right?”

Thie blinked slowly. “Yeah,” he said after a bit. “Cila.”

Axilus nodded quickly. “Yeah, her. How do you think she’d feel if you starved to death and she never got to see you again? I mean, she was the one who sent you all those credits and the other stuff, wasn’t she? She obviously cares about you a lot. And Mom told me you called her without being prompted, so it’s not like the feeling is one-sided, I’m guessing.”

Thie was quiet, then slowly nodded. “Yeah, she’s alright,” he mumbled.

“And she’d be upset if you died, possibly without her ever finding out about it, right?”

Another nod, then Thie hesitantly reached for the nutrient paste. Relieved, Axilus gave it to him, then stood up and headed back to the counter, where food had already been neatly set out for him, his parents eating their shares.

His mother looked up as he sat down, mandibles fluttering. “How is he?” she asked quietly, subvocals thrumming with concern.

He considered telling her what Thie had said, then just shook his head and started eating. She didn’t need to know. She was worried enough already. He’d spent more than one evening sitting in his brother’s room, not touching anything, just breathing in Tollak’s scent and basking in that oddly calming older-brother air that hung about the room, and listening to his mother attempt to muffle her crying. He was pretty sure he’d heard _Desolas_ here and there.

He wished Tollak was home to help him. Tollak was six years older than him. He’d always known what to do when their parents hadn't quite understood. But Tollak was off doing his duty, where he wasn't any use to the current situation, and Axilus couldn't help but feel terribly alone.

He ate quietly for once, listening to his parents make small talk until all the food in front of him was gone and he could reasonably excuse himself. He cleaned up his part of the counter, then hugged both parents before making tracks for his room, where it was safe and quiet and he didn’t have to worry about anyone asking questions.

He was sitting on his bed and watching vid footage of Saren in action, analyzing and committing every flowing motion to memory in the hopes of recreating it later, when a knock came at his door. He paused the footage, then turned to the door. “Yeah?”

“It’s me.”

Axilus flared his mandibles in surprise. He’d been expecting his mother, not Thie. “Oh.”

He was quiet for a bit, then jumped when Thie asked, “Can I come in?”

“Oh! Yeah, sure, of course. It’s open.”

The door slid open, and Thie edged in, looking around as he clasped and unclasped his hands together. Axilus flicked a mandible and reached out with one leg to kick the blankets still disheveled from his futile attempts to sleep the night before out of the way so Thie could sit down. “Here, sit.”

“Thanks.” Thie took a seat, now looking at his feet. He fidgeted in his seat a bit, then hesitantly asked, “I wasn’t interrupting anything, was I?”

Axilus shook his head. “I was just watching some vids.”

“What of?”

He lowered one mandible, then shrugged sheepishly. “Saren. I was thinking, maybe if I watched him, I could get some ideas, y’know? Like, he’s got this one thing he does, where, like, he’ll spin in place, a full 360, and he’ll spread his arms out about halfway through, like he’s keeping his balance, but, like, I think that’s the trigger, y’know, the motion that sets off his biotics, cause then he sets off this, like, _disk_ of energy, and it knocks over everything in its path, and it’s _really_ cool, but he does it really fast, so I had to slow the footage way down, and, and, and I’m babbling, aren’t I? I’m sorry.”

Thie shook his head. “No, it’s alright, I don’t mind. That sounds cool.”

Axilus nodded enthusiastically, then moved his terminal off to the side. After a moment’s thought, he grabbed the old doll his mother had made for him when he was two and held her in his lap. “What did you want to talk about?”

Thie was quiet for a bit, staring at his feet. When he spoke, his voice was soft. “I think we should leave.”

Axilus blinked. “I… what?”

“I should finish my Pilgrimage. Get off Palaven, find a decent gift, go back to the Fleet.” His voice dropped so low Axilus could barely hear him. “For Kel.” Then he shook himself a bit. “Besides, I don’t want to be a burden on your family. Your parents are nice and all, but they don’t need a quarian biotic hanging around. I need to leave.”

He looked up at Axilus then. “You’re coming with me, right?”

Axilus stared. Well. That was unexpected. “I… But…” He swallowed, then tried again. “I… I don’t know, Thie,” he managed. “I mean, you’ve seen my mom. She’s not doing so great. I think this whole thing is making her remember _Fratri_ Solas. That wasn’t a pretty few months.”

Thie frowned. “You were all geared up to go last time we left Palaven.”

“That was different,” he insisted. “Thie, if we hadn’t split up for a while, I might be dead. I’m not… I can’t put her through that again. Not so soon.”

“It’s been almost a decade!”

“And we live for a century and a half!” he snapped. “Mari’s only in her fifties. That’s a lot of time left, Thie.”

Thie narrowed his eyes. “So you’re not coming.”

Axilus pulled in his mandibles tight enough that they clicked against his jaw. “Not now.”

Thie was quiet for a bit, then stood up. “Fine,” he sniffed. “I see how it is.”

Axilus watched him stalk out of the room, then looked down at the doll in his hands. “That was the right thing to do, right?” he asked her.

He couldn't help feeling a little sadder that the doll couldn't answer.

* * *

 

Thie was inspecting the schedule for the public shuttle carefully, trying to decide where he should go, when there was a tap on his shoulder. He spun around, only to be met with an eyeful of maroon, tattooed plating.

He craned his neck back to look up. “Axilus?”

Axilus shrugged, adjusting the bag he was carrying slung over one shoulder. “So, where to?”

Thie did his best to squash the fluttery feeling in his stomach- or was it his chest?- at the sight of the big turian. “Thought you were going to stay with your mom.”

Axilus’ mandibles moved in and out slowly, then he shrugged again, just one shoulder this time. “You need me more.”

“Oh.” That came out squeakier than he’d intended. He coughed to clear his throat. “I mean, suit yourself. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so technically this is getting posted at 3am on Saturday, but it's still Friday somewhere in the world, so I'm not late. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.


	2. I knew I Should Have Gotten the Turbo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter dedicated to Maddy, who's been screaming at Frid and I to make this update for the past several months. Cheers!

Thie scanned the shuttle schedule, then looked back up at Axilus. “Citadel, maybe? It’s a hub, we should be able to find  _ something _ …”

Axilus nodded, idly running his talons along his keelbone. “Yeah, that could work. I’ll have to check my account, but I  _ think _ I have enough money to get us there and then have a room in a motel or something. Gimme a sec.”

His head went down to look at his omni-tool, but suddenly snapped back up and whipped around, mandibles fluttering in that “high alert” signal Thie had learned so well. He twisted slightly, looking around like he’d heard a shout. Which, with turian hearing, he probably had.

Thie turned to look in the direction Axilus seemed to be focusing in on, then jumped back a bit as Axilus spun fully to face the crowd that was now getting pushed apart to reveal one very cranky-looking, very familiar turian, followed closely by a second.

“ And just where do you think  _ you’re _ going in such a hurry?” Freiya snapped, mandibles flared out and hands on hip spurs that arched up gracefully to frame her waist.

Thie looked away quickly once he realized he’d just written mental poetry about a turian’s spurs.

Axilus put his hands up, making a little trill. “Easy, Freiya. I just wanted to make sure I caught Thie before he jumped planet. I wasn’t sure how much time I had. I was gonna call once I knew I hadn’t lost him.”

Freiya considered this, then relaxed, shifting her weight to one leg and folding her arms neatly across her chest. “Alright, I believe you,” she said. “But seriously, where are you headed?”

“Citadel. Thie wants to finish his Pilgrimage.”

“And you’re going with?” Her mandibles fluttered quickly. “Ax, you said good-bye to your mom, right?”

“Of course I did. Dad, too. I couldn’t do that to them.”

She gave a little sigh. “Good. Your mom’s a nice lady, I’d have to kick your ass if you made her cry.”

Axilus made a hurt sort of noise. “If I made my mom cry, I’d let you.”

Thie glanced between them, then cleared his throat. “Uh, guys? Could we move this conversation somewhere else? We’re kind of blocking stuff.”

All three turians looked at him, then back at each other, then Axilus and the other male who had come with Freiya- what was his name again? Demienn or something- looked to Freiya, who nodded once. “Right, come on. We’ll commandeer a bench.”

She took the lead, marching off into the crowd with Axilus and Demienn flanking her and Thie trailing along behind. They weaved through the mass of people with only some difficulty. Thie was pretty sure the turians were taking smaller steps so he could keep up, a gesture he greatly appreciated. The less lost he looked, the less likely he was to get separated from them and confronted by some alien.

With so many people at the space port, he almost didn’t see the bench until Freiya plopped down on it. Axilus and Demienn remained standing, arms crossed and pacing around each other. Thie stood awkwardly off to one side, just… watching. What exactly was he supposed to do in this situation?

Freiya was the first to speak. “So, you’re going off another adventure.”

Axilus flicked a mandible. “Uh… Yeah.”

“Are you staying gone for good this time?”

Axilus was quiet for a while, his mandibles moving in small circles as he thought. Thie’s gut clenched, and he willed Axilus to say something, anything.

Axilus heaved a long, slow sigh. “Maybe. I don’t know. It all kinda depends on what happens.”

“So you’re gonna make it all up as you go along,” Demienn said. One of his mandibles flickered. “Why am I not surprised?”

Axilus snorted. “You didn’t seem to mind when we-“

“Hey, hey, guys, we’re in public,” Freiya cut in, and Axilus and Demienn looked at her with sheepish shrugs. She sighed and pinched the sides of her nasal plates. “Ax, just… Stay in contact, okay? Don’t vanish.”

“I won’t,” Axilus said readily. “Swear on Palaven’s spine.”

She nodded, then rushed forward to hug him tight. After a moment’s hesitation, Demienn joined. Axilus was still for a moment, then wriggled a bit and returned the hug. Thie wasn’t entirely certain how comfortable it could be, given Axilus’ height advantage over the other two, but nobody seemed to be complaining.

When they broke apart, they were all doing that thing Thie had seen in movies a lot where everyone just stared at each other all sappily. He chose to assume they were talking in subvocals rather than… some weird movie bullshit, whatever it might be called. Then Axilus and Freiya both looked at Demienn, and he raised a brow plate, then flicked his mandibles hard. “I’ll, uh…” He coughed into his fist and started walking off. “I’ll go check the schedule for you guys.”

They watched him go, then Thie’s attention was jerked back to the remaining two turians as Freiya reached up, grabbed Axilus’ cowl with one hand and the back of his head with the other, and mashed their faces together, jaws parting just enough so Thie could see a glimpse of her long, blue tongue. After a moment, Axilus apparently caught up with what was going on, and his arms wrapped around her torso to pull her just a little bit off the ground as he returned the gesture, his mandibles reaching forward and clicking against hers.

_ Kissing _ , the little voice in Thie’s head reminded him.  _ They’re kissing _ . He looked away quickly, suddenly glad they couldn’t see through his mask.

He didn’t believe the little heads-up display in his mask that told him he’d only been standing around for a couple minutes. It felt like it’d been hours when he finally heard light panting and a dual-toned murmur of, “Something to remember me by.”

He looked back to see Freiya and Axilus were now a decent distance away from each other’s faces, holding hands loosely. “Promise you’ll call?” Freiya was saying. “It doesn’t have to be every day, just call me now and then so I know you’re alright.”

“I will, I promise,” Axilus said, fluttering his mandibles in that cute little reassuring way he had. “At least twice a Palaven month, yeah? More, if the comms cooperate.” He leaned down to nuzzle her forehead. “You’ll be sick of my voice before you know it.”

“Hey, I’ve known you since we were babies, and it hasn’t worn off yet.” She nuzzled him back, then gave him another quick kiss before letting go of his hands and stepping back, folding her arms. “You should get going, suassi. Don’t want to miss the shuttle.”

“Yeah.” Axilus had to pause, and his throat moved like he’d swallowed. “Take care of yourself, alright?”

She bobbed her head. “I should be telling you that. But yeah, promise.” She headbutted him gently, then glanced over at Thie. “You keep an eye on this big lug for me, would you, Haasn? He’s hopeless without me, but you seem capable enough.”

He jumped slightly, suddenly feeling his heart somewhere in the vicinity of his voicebox. “Yeah, sure.” His voice was a bit squeakier than he intended it to be.

One of Freiya’s mandibles quirked upward, and she glanced between him and Axilus, then shrugged. “Eh, fuck it.”

She crossed the gap between herself and him in two long steps, leaned down, and pressed her nasal plates against the top of his mask.

He had to lock his knees to keep from stumbling back, his legs suddenly turned to mush. “Uh.”

Her mandibles flicked out in a wide grin. “That’s for luck. Don’t waste it, yeah?”

“I, uh, I, well, uh, I…” He swallowed and tried again. “Yeah, sure,” he managed, trying and miserably failing to not sound weak and dazed.

She laughed a bit and sauntered off, nudging Axilus as she passed. “Might want to hold onto him. Seems a little...  _ weak of heart _ .”

Then she bolted, running away cackling as Axilus groaned.

Thie stared blankly after her for a moment, then glanced up at Axilus. “That was a joke, wasn't it?”

“Pun.”

“Same thing.”

“Not really.”

 

* * *

 

The shuttle ride, painfully uneventful as it was, provided Thie the only chance he'd had in weeks to grab a few hours of sleep before the nightmares returned, Axilus's endless idle chatter a comforting background buzz as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. It wasn't nearly as comfortable as a real ship-- the lack of ambient drive core rumbling in the background was a bit disconcerting-- but before he knew it he was opening his eyes to Axilus shaking him and whispering, “Hey, Thie, we're here.”

“What?” Thie fought back a yawn and sat up, glancing around. The shuttle was empty; how long had he been asleep, he wondered, for everyone to have already gotten out?

“We're here,” Axilus repeated, nodding towards the ajar door. “At the Citadel. You know, where were planning on going?”

Thie blinked a few times. “Oh. Uh, okay.” He fought his way to his feet, grimacing at the tired aching that had settled in his bones. Axilus stood up beside him, his hand hovering over Thie's shoulder as if he were afraid Thie was going to collapse at any given moment again.

It didn't occur to him until they stood alone in the middle of the shuttle station that he had no idea where to go from there.

Immediately, Thie froze up, and Axilus nearly jumped forwards, grabbing his arm. “Thie, you okay?”

He jolted and shook the offending hand off with a low hiss of, “I'm _fine,”_ before pausing and forcing himself to relax. “Sorry. I mean...” He inhaled, then exhaled slowly. “Sorry. I just, where do we go now? What do we do?”

The turian paused. “I... don't know,” he admitted with a vague shrug. “I thought _you_ knew.”

“I just wanted to leave. I have no _idea_ what to do _now_.” Thie bit his lower lip, trying to push down the exhausted panic rising in his chest, and privately set his suit to apply another stim while he tried to think. “I didn't- I mean, I admit, I didn't really think this far. I just...” He trailed off.

Axilus waited for him to continue, then shrugged, offering, “Well, we could just walk around until you think of something.” When Thie gave him an incredulous look, he just shrugged again. “That's what my mom would do when I couldn't think of anything to do for something. Like presents and stuff. She'd take me for a walk and talk to me and eventually I'd come up with something.” He flicked an affectionate mandible out. “She helped me think of a lot of presents and stuff for birthdays. It was nice. Plus the walks were always fun. One time she took me into this forest and-”

“I'm sure it's an interesting story, Axilus,” Thie interrupted with a vague gesture of the hand, “but that's not what we're talking about.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

He shook his head in dismissal and contemplated for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure, I guess. We can go for a walk.” He cast a glance around, then added, “Have to be careful, though. Citadel isn't kind to our- _my_ ,” he quickly corrected, flinching only slightly, “kind. I don't, um, I don't want, y'know, that kind of attention. Right now. Uh. You understand, right?”

Axilus nodded enthusiastically, probably more to reassure him than out of an actual interest in what he was saying, and then, to Thie's surprise, looped an arm around his shoulders. “Don't worry. I won't let them touch you.” And the grin he flashed Thie was wide and goofy enough to make him snort.

He quickly sobered though, shrugging Axilus's arm off and nodding his head sharply towards the customs station. “C'mon, let's get through.”

The customs officer, a turian with dark plating and vibrant blue facepaint in standard-issue C-Sec blues, gave Thie a strange sideways look and nodded respectfully to Axilus as they passed by, which Axilus answered with a flare of his mandibles and a low subvocal snarl, protectively wrapping his arm around the quarian's shoulders again. Thankfully, Thie's suit didn't set off the alarm, so the troupe of C-Sec officers loitering around the door glaring suspiciously at Thie didn't have reason enough to stop and search him, and Axilus made a point of hurrying him past the small C-Sec outpost and into the square just beyond.

Thie hesitated once they were clear of the accusatory stares, tilting his head back to gape open-mouthed at the scene before him. He'd seen pictures of the Citadel, of course, but seeing it up close and in person was something else entirely.

Beside him, Axilus's hand drifted down from his shoulder to his hand and grasped it tight. “Beautiful, isn't it?” Thie could only nod wordlessly, and Axilus chuckled deep in the back of his throat, a pleasant buzzing noise crackling through the suit's speakers. “My dad told me the first time he came here, he didn't want to go back home. Said it was too pretty.” He cleared his throat and tugged gently on Thie's hand. “But it's not a nice place. We should keep moving.”

“Yeah.” Thie shook himself out of his daze and nodded, turning to walk in a random direction. He remained painfully aware of Axilus's hand grasping his, half wishing he would let go and half praying he wouldn't. It felt... nice.

They had been walking for a little while when Axilus finally looked over and asked, “So, any ideas yet?”

“What?”

“For your pilgrimage. Any gift ideas yet?”

Thie paused, then glanced down, watching his feet move as he walked. “No, not yet. It's...” He struggled to find a proper word, then gave up and sighed. “It's hard.”

“Yeah, I bet.” Axilus pulled lightly on his hand. “You okay? You're walking kind of funny.”

He blinked, glancing up at Axilus with his mouth open to answer the affirmative- and then stumbled, vision blurring slightly. He didn't hit the ground, though- a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him back, steadying him. He blinked rapidly to clear his vision, then stated rather lamely, “Oh.”

He heard Axilus's mandibles clack against his jaw. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so.” He wriggled free of the turian's grip, wavering slightly before finding his center of balance. Then he nodded again. “Yeah, I'm fine.” Then he frowned. “That was weird.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” The turian's hand drifted back down to Thie's. “Maybe we should find somewhere to sit down? Maybe get a drink?”

Thie snorted and jerked his hand away, resuming walking. After a pause, Axilus fell into step beside him again. “Nowhere here is going to serve a quarian, moron.”

“Why?” Axilus sounded honestly confused for a split second before slapping a hand against his forehead and muttering, “Oh, _right_... Sorry.”

“Eh.” Thie shrugged, gritting his teeth when the slight motion sent him staggering slightly as his center of gravity suddenly shifted several inches to the left. Then he sarcastically suggested, “Maybe there's a food court nearby. I'll sit down, you can get, uh...” His mind spontaneously ran blank for a moment, and he stopped walking and stared into space for a second before suddenly remembering what he was saying. “... and you can get drinks. Or... How much money do you have on you?”

Axilus looked mildly concerned, but, to his credit, didn't ask again. “Uh, a lot. My whole savings. A lot of money. Well, not a _lot_ , but, y'know, more than you.”

By the time Axilus figured out that might be a bit rude to say, Thie had already punched him in the shoulder for it, having, again, forgotten that turians were fully plated, plus Axilus was in medium-to-heavy armor.

As he cradled his hand, cursing softly in Khelish, his head started spinning again and he staggered, feeling his center of gravity suddenly shift several feet in front of him. He threw out a hand to catch himself, too slow, but Axilus was quicker on the draw and wrapped his arms around the quarian's midsection again, hefting him upwards. “Thie, are you okay!?”

Thie struggled to dredge up the words to answer through the fog that had descended, but it was harder than he'd been anticipating. “Uh.” Yeah, good job. “Yes.” Better. “Just... dizzy.”

“Do you want to go sit down?”

It was getting harder to think. “Uh.”

Apparently that was a good enough answer, because suddenly he felt some sort of motion as Axilus started moving. Then he was on a bench, his head in the turian's lap—which was hardly comfortable, but it was better than the ground, he supposed—with Axilus's hand resting nervously on his chest. The turian's face danced in and out of focus, which Thie supposed he ought to be worried about, but honestly, he couldn't dredge up the energy. He wasn't even dizzy now- he was just _tired_.

Axilus's mouth was moving, but it was hard to hear what he was saying beyond vague “wah wah” noises, which should have been more comical than it currently was. Then the turian looked up, mandibles flaring out in what looked like surprise, and another turian appeared overhead.

And then Thie's vision blanked out.

When he came to again, he found himself staring at a blank ceiling instead of the neon-lit scene he'd seen before he passed out. His body _ached_ as he tried to sit up, grimacing and biting back a whimper. How long had he been unconscious?

“Oh, good, you're awake,” came a voice from somewhere behind him, and Thie nearly jumped out of his suit.

A turian rounded the cot he was lying on, glancing up from the datapad in his hand to look Thie over. His plates were a pale cream color, with stark white starting at his nasal plates and fading back into cream at his eyes. Delicate blue paint looped under his eyes and across his nose, arcing up and ending just before his crest. His mandibles fluttered slightly as he glanced back down at the datapad and made a few notes, then he tossed it aside onto a counter Thie hadn't noticed before and knelt down at his side. He was quiet for a long moment, studying Thie, then nodded slightly. “You seem better. Lucky for you a C-Sec patrol came across you before a gang.”

His voice stuck in his throat for a moment, and he blinked in bewilderment. “Wait, what? What are you talking about? Who are you, where _am_ I?”

The turian stood and turned, fiddling with something in a nearby cabinet. “My name is Gahlan Tirnnonis. I'm a doctor, and you're in my clinic.” The cabinet shut and he turned around, a small tube in hand which he then pressed into Thie's hands. “Eat something. You've been unconscious for fifteen hours.”

Thie looked down, blinked a few times, then looked back up and shook his head. “What are you _talking_ about?”

Dr. Tirnnonis raised a brow plate at him, then nodded towards the door. “Fifteen or so hours ago, a C-Sec patrol came across you and your turian friend in the Zakera market. You were out cold, your Madelivio friend was panicking, so they brought you to me.” He crossed his arms and fluttered his mandibles again. “You haven't been sleeping recently, have you?”

Thie opened his mouth to argue, but the doctor cut him off. “You were severely exhausted and crashing from stim abuse when they brought you in. I did what I could to treat you, but the rest you just had to sleep off. I only managed to convince Madelivio to take a nap about twenty minutes ago.”

He blinked slowly. “How did you know he was a Madelivio?”

“The same way anyone else knows the Madelivios.” A mandible quirked up in faint amusement. “They've got quite a track record.”

Thie opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the door slid open and a small, frazzled salarian darted in and immediately began checking cupboards, cursing viciously under his breath.

Dr. Tirnnonis seemed unperturbed and simply asked, making a motion for Thie to eat, “Did you bring me the iodine, Eralan?”

“ _No_ ,” the salarian hissed through clenched teeth. “And do you know _why!?”_

“Let me guess.” The turian sighed and ran a hand along his crest. “Because I didn't install security measures-”

“ _Because you didn't install security measures!”_ the salarian screeched, slamming a bottle down on the counter. “I've told you a million times, _put some damn grates on those vents!_ But do you ever _listen_? No, of course not! This is the _fifteenth time this month_ , Tirnnonis!”

The turian shook his head. “I'm not installing grates.”

“No, that would make life too damn easy!” Eralan flung his arms up into the air. “What the fuck am I even doing with a moron like you?”

“Will you go check on Madelivio for me?”

“I'm your assistant, not your damn servant!”

“Go check on Madelivio for me, please.”

The salarian made a strangled screeching sort of noise and stormed out just as fast as he'd stormed _in_.

Thie blinked at the door as it slid shut, gaping for a moment. Then he turned to stare at the doctor, who looked perhaps a tad bit annoyed, but nothing more. “Who was that?”

The doctor shrugged. “My assistant, Waraji Eralan-”

“ _Uothwar Nacor Jaeto Vligow_ Waraji Eralan!” came an echoing screech from down the hall. “If you're going to introduce me, do it _properly!”_

“How did he-?”

“Don't ask.”

Thie was quiet for a moment, then quietly asked, “Is he  _always_ like that?”

The turian shook his head. “Not always. Just when the iodine mysteriously disappears.” He paused. “All of it.” Another pause. “At once.” Then he cast a bemused glance at the ceiling. “With the aid of a certain drell.”

“What drell?”

“Oh, you'll find out.” The turian flicked out a mandible in some unrecognizable expression. “Eat the damn paste, kid, you need the nutrition.”

Thie jolted and fumbled with the tube of nutrient paste, eventually managing to twist the cap off without dropping it again. Then he looked back up, flinched at the cold stare that met him, and quickly attached the tube to the valve beneath his mask. When he looked back up again, the turian looked... pleased? and turned away to do something else.

For a long moment, both of them were silent, Thie fiddling with his suit and the turian probably filing paperwork or something like that.

Then Thie managed to find his voice and quietly asked, “Can I leave?”

Dr. Tirnnonis turned to raise a brow plate at him over the edge of his cowl. “So eager to leave already?”

“Well, yes,” Thie cautiously replied, “I do sort of have a Pilgrimage to get back to-”

“I know you've got a Pilgrimage and all.” The turian waved a hand dismissively and turned back around. “But health comes first, especially with kids like you. I'd like you and your Madelivio to stay for a little while so I can make sure neither of you morons did any permanent damage.” He cast a short glance back again. “And to keep you in particular away from stims for a while.”

Thie blinked.

The turian blinked back.

Then Thie sighed. “Fine. But can I at least have a bed?”

“Of course.” Thie nearly jumped out of his skin when Dr. Tirnnonis suddenly flared out his mandibles and made a sharp whistling sound that peaked out in his suit's speakers and made them squeal with feedback. Seconds later, the grouchy salarian from before appeared in the doorway. “Eralan, would you mind taking this kid to one of the guest rooms?”

One of the salarian's big, bulbous eyes twitched rather violently. His voice, however, was surprisingly civil. “Fine.” Then he nodded to Thie. “Go on, get up. This way.”

As Thie followed him out of the room, he could have sworn he saw a pair of eyes watching him from the vents.

 


	3. What the Hell Kind of Weird-Ass Hospital Drama Did We Just Get Dropped Into

The room Eralan led Thie to was pitch-black, the only sign of life being dimly-familiar snoring. Eralan pulled up his omni-tool and fiddled with it, bringing up the lights just enough to illuminate the sparse furniture, bare walls, and sleeping turian on one of two beds. “Do try to be quiet, would you?” Eralan said. “Had to give him sleeping pills to get him to go down and stay down. And everyone makes jokes about _salarians_ being insomniacs.” He shook his head slightly, then shifted his weight to one leg and motioned with his head to the non-occupied bed. “That one’ll be yours. If you need anything, flag down a nurse. Just look for the uniform, it’s not just me and the _tanika’ihi_ here.”

Thie blinked. The garbled mess that had come through his translator couldn’t be what Eralan meant. “What was that about… fish food for babies?”

Eralan blinked, then made the most comical frown Thie had ever seen. “ _What?_ ”

“Uh… Never mind.” He ducked his head and headed further into the room, feeling his cheeks heat up.

He heard Eralan mutter something about cheap translation software, then the door closed with a pleasant _whoosh_ , and he was alone with the slumbering Axilus.

He sighed and looked around, taking stock of the situation. There were two small beds- okay, more like one bed and a cot set up against the opposite wall with pillows and blankets hastily tossed on, if he was being honest with himself. Axilus, of course, had taken the bed, leaving Thie to gingerly sit on the edge of the cot. Axilus’ duffel bag had been dropped on a desk populated only by a lamp, a drawer, and a stiff-looking chair. Other than that, the room was bare.

He moved back a bit on the cot and leaned against the wall, trying to get comfortable. If Axilus had taken sleeping pills, he’d probably be waiting a while.

Dr. Tirnnonis had said he’d been down and out for fifteen hours. Another one couldn’t hurt.

It felt like he’d only just closed his eyes when he opened them again to meet the gaze of two big, bulbous, black eyes ringed with dull red.

He jerked back, only to suddenly remember the wall behind his head, and yelped in a combination of surprise and pain.

The eyes, he quickly realized, were in the head of a drell. The lighting in the room was still low, and the drell still very close, so he couldn’t get a proper look at them, but they seemed awful small. The cot didn’t seem to dip at all where Thie judged they should have been sitting, and their eyes looked too big for their skull.

The drell tilted their head sideways, blinking rapidly. They were still sitting _so close_. But Thie didn’t feel threatened. The drell didn’t seem like they were interested in harming him, just… curious. He wondered if they’d ever seen a quarian before. He certainly hadn’t seen a drell before, at least not in person, and definitely not this close-up. He’d always thought drell scales were supposed to catch the light; this one was just… absorbing it, almost. There certainly wasn’t any reflection he could see.

He had just enough time to notice he couldn’t hear the drell breathing and wonder if he’d turned off audio input again when, from the other side of the room, Axilus gave a great shudder and started to stir.

Thie spared a glance over to the turian. In that split second, the drell vanished from his peripheral vision. He turned his head to try and follow them, but they’d completely disappeared.

Well, then.

He shook his head a bit and chalked up the weird drell to being still somewhat asleep and dreaming, then looked over at Axilus, who was now pulling himself into a sitting position. “Nice nap?” he asked dryly, shoving the dream out of his mind.

Axilus blinked at him, then yawned and looked around, his mandibles working in slow circles as he processed what he was seeing, then shrugged. “I guess. Nice to see you’re alright. Tirnnonis treat you okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah, he seems alright. Can’t say the same for his assistant, though.”

Axilus did that weird turian grin. “So you met Eralan, then. He’s not that bad, if you stay on his good side. Played some Galaxy of Fantasy with him and his cousin. Not my game, but-“

Thie sighed. “That’s nice, Axilus. Do you mind telling me something actually relevant? Like, how I got here?”

Axilus blinked, his mandibles drooping, then nodded. “Well, y’see, you were acting funny for a bit, then you just sorta… collapsed. There was this C-Sec patrol who saw, a turian and an elcor, and they said Tirnnonis would help out, and they helped me get you here. They’re pretty cool, the elcor’s really funny. Before I conked out, they popped in every now and then to check on how things were going with you.”

“They did?” Huh. Well, that was… well. He cleared his throat. “Well, that’s, uh, nice of them, I guess. Come on, hanging around here all day will be boring.”

Axilus raised a brow plate but got to his feet anyway, stretching his arms over his head. “Bit eager, aren’t we?”

“I’m _bored_ , Axilus. Let’s _go_.”

Axilus rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders, cracking his neck. “Spirits, that feels better. Didn’t get any sleep on that stupid shuttle.”

“You don’t get any sleep anywhere.”

“Not true. I sleep when my mom’s within shouting distance.” He chuckled to himself, a throaty little _nek-nek-nek_ sound, then headed for the door.

Thie rolled his eyes and followed, pausing at the door just long enough to scan the room for the drell he’d seen earlier. No sign. Weird. Probably _had_ been a dream, then. He shrugged and hurried after Axilus, who by now was halfway down the hall.

He had to admit, he was glad at least one of them had been awake. Axilus seemed to know the place by heart, and it hadn’t even been a day. Down a few halls and around a few corners, and they were in a waiting room sort of area, with a few chairs occupied and Eralan manning the front desk, an omni-tool extension wrapped around his head and alive with what Thie assumed to be a call, based on how the salarian seemed to be quietly talking to himself. The room was mostly quiet, except for a vidscreen relaying news via a turian woman with vaguely familiar markings and-

“Hey, kid!” barked the turian C-Sec officer on the opposite side of the room, striding over. His armor was partially obscured by a thigh-length, deep blue cloak that billowed around him as he walked, making him look even bigger than he already was.

Axilus straightened up, hurrying to meet the officer halfway. “Officer Arnnek, sir!”

The officer clasped Axilus’ shoulders and looked him over critically. “Spirits, kid, don’t you have a cloak?”

Axilus keened slightly and shook his head, and the officer groaned. “You’re going to freeze to death, the Wards are always chilly. Here, take mine.”

Before Axilus had time to speak, the officer had swept his cloak off and settled it on his shoulders, adjusted it carefully so there were no creases or wrinkles, then nodded to himself. “There. Try not to lose it, kid, any Madelivio mother is not one I feel like catching flak from for letting her kid freeze to death.”

Axilus grumbled, but muttered, “Thank you, sir.”

Apparently satisfied, the officer fluttered his mandibles and glanced up at Thie. “Good, you’re up, finally. Had us worried there for a bit.”

Thie blinked. “Ex- excuse me?”

Axilus padded over and slung an arm around Thie’s shoulder, adjusting his borrowed cloak so it partially covered Thie, too. “Thie, this is Officer Arnnek. The elcor over there’s his partner,” he said, gesturing towards the corner, where there was indeed an elcor in C-Sec colors watching.

The big turian nodded. “Solihim. You can call me Sol, if you like. He’s Settozyn.” He jerked his head over his shoulder at the elcor, who by now was plodding over.

“Enthused: Quarian. It is good to see you have woken,” the elcor intoned. “Admonishingly: You gave your friend quite a scare.”

Thie blinked. He had to admit, “chastised by an elcor” wasn’t exactly on his list of things he’d ever expected to happen in his life. “Uh… Sorry?”

“Disappointed: Dr. Tirnnonis said you had a stim crash.”

“Um, well, yes, I guess so, I mean, I don’t really know the details myself-“

“Vaguely annoyed question: Eralan.”

Thie glanced back to see the salarian’s head pop up, the membrane around one eye shifting slightly as his eye rotated. Eralan blinked, then put a hand to his headpiece and said, “Call you back, Val.” Then, as the interface flickered out of existence, Eralan vaulted over the desk and plodded over, cracking his knuckles. “Yeah?”

“Polite inquiry: Would it be possible for you to explain the circumstances under which this quarian is here.”

“Nothing specific, no. But I can give you the basics.”

“Gratefully: If you don’t mind.”

Eralan shrugged and pulled up his omni-tool, flipping through it for a bit before settling on one screen. “Here we are. Thie’Haasn nar Olyna, quarian on Pilgrimage, arrived in company of Axilus Madelivio and C-Sec officers Solihim Arnnek and Settozyn… do elcor have clan names or anything?”

“Politely: Not in the sense that other species do, no.”

“Right. Moving on.” He scrolled down the screen slightly and read for a bit, then continued. “Patient displayed signs of severe exhaustion and stim abuse. Without getting into all the big words, it was a very, very nasty stim crash.” One big eye rolled toward Thie and squinted. “Just how much did you take, anyway?”

“Enough that he shouldn’t be talking to nosy C-Sec officers and still be sleeping,” came a snap from the direction they’d come.

The entire group turned, and Gahlan strode out, mandibles fluttering and brow plates lowered with his crest tipped up. “Go on, shoo. You especially, Madelivio. It’s only been three hours since you passed out. Move it. Back to bed.”

Axilus made an indignant sort of noise. “I don’t need sleep.”

“And I don’t need smart-mouth teenagers talking back. I’m a doctor, not your parent, don’t argue with me. Didn’t your mother teach you anything?”

“My mom taught me lots of stuff!”

“Really? Did she say anything about listening to the doctor? Cause I know kids half your age know that one!”

“Hey, hey, break it up,” Officer Arnnek ordered, stepping between the two. “Kid, he has a point. Apologize and go lie down.”

Axilus drew his head back indignantly. “I don’t want to, though.”

“Spirits, how old are you? Shut up and do as you’re told.”

Axilus huffed and puffed up, mandibles flaring out. Officer Arnnek matched his stance, squaring his shoulders, and the two glowered at each other for a couple heartbeats before Axilus dropped his gaze and pulled his mandibles back in. “Yes, sir,” he muttered, tilting his head in that sideways manner Thie had learned turians considered submissive. Or, he was pretty sure that was the one. He could also be curious. Somebody needed to invent a translator for body language as well as spoken.

It was apparently the submissive one, because Officer Arnnek nodded and stepped back. “Good. Now, what did I say?”

“Lots of things, sir.”

“Don’t get smart with me, boy. What did I tell you to do?”

“Apologize and go lie down, sir. But-“

“No buts. Listen to Dr. Tirnnonis, or I’m calling your mother. Or…” He scratched his crest. “Isn’t there a General Madelivio? Older guy, survived getting blasted through a building?”

The skin on Axilus’ neck went paler than Thie had ever seen it, and Arnnek grinned. “So there _is_. Close relative, probably, by that reaction. So, do you want to say you’re sorry, or do you want to give me the general’s number?”

Axilus huffed, then bobbed his head in Dr. Tirnnonis’ direction. “Sorry. But can I call my mom first so she knows I’m alright?”

“That depends. Within Council space?”

“She’s an engineer with TEC back in Cipritine. She should be home by now.”

Tirnnonis blinked slowly, his mandibles working in small circles. “What’s your mother’s name?”

Axilus tilted his head. “Sephira Actinus. Why?”

Tirnnonis groaned. “Spirits, of course I’d get the Madelivio related to her. Just my luck.”

Axilus bounced slightly, mandibles flaring out. “You know my mom?”

“I was assigned to the _Villentos_ for basic while she was on board. Never met a more stubborn woman. Didn’t let anyone tell her what to do if she didn’t want to do it. She had a soft spot for your father, though. I _thought_ you looked familiar. Anyone ever tell you you’re the spitting image of your father?”

“Only everyone I’ve met who knows him.”

“Good, then it’ll stick.” Tirnnonis made a snorting sort of sound, then jerked his head back over his shoulder. “Go call her, then. Comm connections to Palaven are free, so take as much time as you need.”

Axilus bobbed his head and darted off. Tirnnonis, meanwhile, turned to Officer Arnnek and dipped his head. “Thanks for the help.”

“No trouble. His paint’s still wet, ‘s not like getting ‘em to back down is _hard_ at that age. He completed _that_ much mandatory, at least.”

Tirnnonis snorted. “You’re only thirty, and you talk like an old man. What are you going to do when your plates start to crack and all that brown on your face goes white?”

Arnnek barked a laugh. “Scare the little recruits, probably. Then they’ll _really_ back down quick.”

“And you’ll be a regular terror.” Tirnnonis shook his head. “I should be getting back to work.”

“ _Now_ he realizes,” Thie heard Eralan mutter. He jumped slightly, having forgotten the salarian was standing there. He glanced up to see one of Eralan’s eyes twitch as he said in a louder voice, “Your next appointment is in three minutes. Might want to get going. I’ll see to the walk-ins.”

Tirnnonis nodded and dipped his head to Eralan. “Noted. Thanks.”

Arnnek shrugged. “We should get going, too.”

“With mixed amusement and irritation: I was wondering when you would notice.”

The group dispersed, with Tirnnonis turning to vanish through the same door he’d come in through and Eralan drifting over to the other end of the waiting room. Thie watched Arnnek and Settozyn leave, noting that Arnnek’s mandibles tilted up in amusement as they stepped out.

Once the doors slid shut behind the officers, Thie had just enough time to idly wonder what Arnnek had seen before the doors opened back up and three hanar glided in.

Somewhere behind him, there was a strangled sort of noise, and he saw a bolt of light blue and white out of the corner of his eye as Eralan sprinted to the desk and vaulted over it. The hanar turned to follow the motion, then looked (did hanar look without eyes?) about the lobby. One of them approached him, shaking themselves slightly like they were shrugging off an insect. “Ah, quarian. Greetings. This one does not believe it has seen you here before. Are you new to this area of the Citadel?”

Thie blinked. “Uh.”

“That’s none of your business,” snapped a voice over his head. He looked up, and Eralan had returned, eye membranes contracted tightly to make his pupils small. He had to wonder just how fast the salarian could move. “How many times do we have to tell you to stay out? This is a clinic, it’s no place for your mission!”

“This one begs the doctor’s pardon-“

_“Pohawai!_ If you cared, you’d leave us alone! The day the Enkindlers cure a patient is the day Aeziki the Ascended herself comes before me and tells me the secret to curing every disease known to the galaxy! _Get out of my clinic!”_

“This one-“

Thie didn’t get to find out what came next, because there came a sound like metal being dragged across the tile that climbed up his spine with ice-cold claws.

He turned around to see something straight out of old “help the poor” ads he’d seen on the extranet.

A drell that couldn’t have come up any higher than the middle of Thie’s torso stood by the wall, red scales dull and dirty and big black eyes bulging out of their head. Their clothes hung off their skinny frame, and their nails looked more like Axilus’ untrimmed talons.

_Please,_ Thie found himself thinking, _please let that be a child._

The hanar appeared to have the same line of thought, because the same one that had been talking to Thie said, “This one would inquire if the drell is lost? Does he wish for assistance in finding his parents?”

The drell- Thie had no idea how the hanar knew to use ‘he’ and supposed he might need to look up drell dimorphism- said nothing, only shuffled forward, making that horrible scraping sound. A quick glance down revealed the drell was barefoot and not picking up his feet, so his scales shrieked against the tile. The entire waiting room felt like it was holding its breath.

When he was maybe a turian arm-length from the hanar, the drell’s entire demeanor changed.

 Previously wide-eyed and almost angelic, the drell’s eyes narrowed to slits, and his lips tore back into a piercing, grating hiss that revealed rows of uneven, needly teeth. One spindly arm came up to lash at the hanar with jagged nails, sending them hurrying backwards, desperately fleeing the tiny demon now dangerously close. The drell let out an ear-piercing shriek and lunged again, and the hanar fled at speeds Thie hadn’t known hanar could reach.

After the doors to the clinic had slit shut behind the hanar, the drell was still again, standing peacefully like nothing had happened. Then, without moving any other part of himself, he rolled his head back around to look at Eralan. “You’re welcome.”

The voice was, to Thie’s relief, high and childlike, albeit rough and painful-sounding, like it was rarely used. The drell seemed to think for a moment, then dug in some unseen pocket before reaching out one bony arm towards Eralan, spidery fingers clasping a credit chit. “For the iodine,” he rasped. “Minus lunch.”

Eralan hesitated, then reached out and accepted the chit. Thie blinked, and the drell was gone.

Thie stared at where the drell had been for a moment, then turned to Eralan. “What the fuck just happened?”

Eralan raised a brow at him. “Is it really that hard to process?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean it makes _sense.”_

“Mm. Point.” Eralan shrugged and headed for the front desk. “Those hanar come in pretty regularly, spouting their religion to whoever’s unfortunate enough to be in the room. I’m all for freedom of religion, as long as they don’t disturb the patients. And none of them will take ‘stay out’ for an answer.” He snorted and shook his head. _“Hanar,_ you know?”

“Not really, but I get it.”

“Right, quarian, sorry. So anyway, they’re a local annoyance. Tried talking to C-Sec, but the hanar embassy shouted us down. As politely as hanar can shout, anyway.”

“And the drell? Who was he?”

Eralan could only shrug. “Search me. He started showing up last year. Near as I can figure, he’s either an orphan or a runaway, and has a hideout somewhere in the Keeper tunnels. Steals whatever he can, probably for money for food. I’ve found scales and drell blood around before, though, so he probably uses some of the medical supplies on himself, too.” He shook his head. “Be easier on him if he’d just let us help, but no.”

“Do you know his name, at least?”

Eralan gave him a long look, and Thie thought he saw a distinct _yes_ in the depths of his eyes. Then he shrugged again and said simply, “I have my theories, but what good are theories without confirmation? He won’t tell us who he is, so we’re stuck until he does. Simple as that.”

Thie hesitated, then shook himself slightly. “I think I saw him earlier. When I was waiting for Axilus to get up. He was staring at me.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me. You’re new, and he’s a kid. Curiosity has this tendency to win out over self-preservation for kids.”

“He was, like, _really_ close, though. I couldn’t even see the rest of him besides his face.”

“Eh. I wouldn’t worry about him. He’s a little off, but he’s harmless. Except for the part where he’ll take whatever you don’t secure, anyway. Keep an eye on your stuff.”

“He just attacked _hanar._ That’s not exactly harmless, if you ask me.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t seem too fond of hanar, I’ve noticed. But you’re not a hanar, so you really only have to worry about him robbing you blind. Possibly literally, depending on what sort of tech you have installed in that suit.”

Thie hesitated as a thought struck him. It was stupid. Still, he should ask. No, it was _stupid._

“Are you really sure he’s alive?” _Dammit._

Eralan blinked slowly, his expression even more unreadable than a turian’s. Then he nodded and looked back at the desk, starting to move things around. “Positive.”

“How do you know?”

Eralan glanced back up at him for just a moment, then back down to what he was doing. “Ghosts don’t gash their arm open and need stitches.”

All Thie had to say to that was a quiet little “Oh.”

“Mhm.”

Thie was quiet for a good while, waiting for Eralan to finish. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do. Finally, the salarian straightened up and looked at him. “I have to see to patients now, and your friend’s going to be out for a while. Do you need something to do in the meantime?”

Thie paused, then asked cautiously, “What do you have in mind?”

Eralan considered, then smiled. “Ever play Galaxy of Fantasy?”


	4. Let's Play "Spot the Writer's Bias"

Thie opened his eyes to an opaque mask and various parts of his suit informing him he was not, in fact, resting on a surface meant for it. As in, very rough, very pointy, and _very_ uncomfortable.

He groaned and told his mask to depolarize so he could see. He must have passed out playing _Galaxy of Fantasy_ with Eralan and his cousin- the last thing he remembered was arguing over the best way to spend level-up points. And apologizing several times over the course of several hours for having to be carried through dungeons because the salarians’ characters were vastly more leveled than his.

He squinted as the foggy shapes on the other side of his visor slowly solidified, making a mental note to take a look at the tech later and see if he could speed it up a little.

And then he promptly jumped, spun, and fell to the ground in a sprawling heap of limbs as the biggest shape turned into Axilus giving him the most shit-eating grin he’d ever seen on a turian.

Axilus tossed back his head and let out a barking laugh, leaning back to rest his weight on his elbows. “Good morning!” he cawed with a cheerful flutter of his mandibles. “Sleep well?”

Thie groaned painfully and slowly sat up. “Keelah, how long was I out?”

“Like, ten hours, maybe. Not really sure when you passed out, I walked in and found you all passed out.”

“And why was I in your lap?”

Axilus shrugged. “You were shivering a bit, so I figured, might as well.”

Thie frowned at him. “Is that a thing turians usually do? Share body heat like that?”

“Uh-huh. Something something something cellular structure. We hold body heat okay, but that’s on Palaven. We huddle together for extra warmth in winter and off-world.” He shrugged. “I figured it couldn’t hurt to let you share heat while you slept. You seem to get cold easy.”

Thie looked up as the door chirped, just in time to see Eralan walk in. He was scowling, as per usual. “Would you at least _try_ not to get injured? Your bones will look like my sister’s math tests by the time you’re forty- all covered in lines and X’s.”

Thie scowled right back at him. “I’m _fine_.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Come on, up.”

Axilus helped him to his feet, and he waited patiently as Eralan ran his scans.

Eralan hummed to himself as he worked. “Blood pressure normal, pulse within acceptable range, no fever,” he rattled off into the mic on his omni-tool. “Name and year of birth?”

“Thie’Haasn nar Olyna, 2145.”

“Current employment?”

“None. On Pilgrimage.”

“Where are you now?”

“Zakera Ward, on the Citadel.”

“Cognitive functions running smoothly. Baseline infection-detecting scans return no positives.” He nodded to himself, then at Thie. “You’re clear.”

“Told you.”

“Never hurts to check.” He looked at Axilus. “Your turn. Have to keep an eye on that insomnia.”

Axilus complained, of course, but let Eralan shine a light in his eyes and check his reflexes while keeping up a steady stream of questions. Thie smirked to himself, remembering the shouting-down Axilus had received from his mother, who had very firmly established that Axilus was under no circumstances to ever not do as he was told by the doctors who were graciously allowing them to stay. Axilus might not be happy about it, but he’d be even less happy if he disobeyed his mother.

After a few minutes, Eralan heaved a sigh and nodded to Axilus. “You two can go… do whatever it is you do, I don’t care. Just don’t make more work for me.”

Thie nodded in acknowledgement and headed out of the room, clicking footsteps behind him telling him Axilus was following. “So,” Axilus said, trotting along just within Thie’s peripheral vision, “what do you want to do?”

Thie shrugged. “Don’t know. I heard Settozyn mention a used ship dealer the other day, maybe we could go try to find something we can take back to the Fleet?”

Axilus hummed as they walked into the waiting room. “Hey, it’s something to do. Gotta find it, first, though.”

Thie paused, then folded his arms, turning to face Axilus. He had a point. “Maybe C-Sec will tell us?”

Axilus shrugged. “No harm in asking.”

Thie nodded and moved to start walking again, but before he could take a step, the clinic doors slid open and four quarians stumbled in, the two on either side supporting the two in the middle. “Excuse me?” squeaked the one on the far right. “My friends need medical assistance!”

The nurse behind the counter jumped a bit, then started tapping at her omni-tool. Thie jumped as Eralan brushed past him, omni-tool already active. “It’s okay, stay calm,” he was saying. “My name is Eralan, I can help you. What are your names?”

“W-well,” the first one said as Eralan started scanning the two in the middle, “the one in red is Keeto, a-and the one in gray is Aeran, and I’m Alita, and that’s Nalee-“

Thie grunted as something shoved him aside, stumbling over to stand by Axilus and rubbing his shoulder. To his surprise, Dr. Tirnnonis was responsible, walking brusquely over to the quarians without even an apologetic glance. He exchanged a few murmured words with Eralan, looked at the scan results on Eralan’s omni-tool, then helped the middle two quarians get off their friends’ shoulders and shamble back to the examination rooms.

Thie blinked a few times in confusion, then shook his head and walked over to Eralan and the other quarians. “Does he do that often?”

“Believe it or not, yes.” Eralan shook his head and put his omni-tool away, folding his arms.

The little quarian who had spoken first- Alita, that was her name- shifted nervously, then piped up, “Excuse me, but they’re going to be okay, won’t they?”

Eralan blinked down at her slowly, then motioned with his head over to a chair. “Sit down, first. I’ll ask you some questions, if you don’t mind. The more we know about what happened, the better we can treat your friends, okay?”

Alita looked nervously at Thie. Why, he had no idea, but he nodded anyway. “It’s okay,” he said, hoping he sounded convincing. “Eralan’s alright.”

She nodded to herself, then let Eralan guide her over to a chair. “Arenneta, can you go look in the other room, see if there’s anything she can have? No caffeine, of course.”

The nurse behind the desk nodded and vanished off into the other room. After a moment, Thie helped the remaining quarian to their feet and trailed after Eralan and Alita, Axilus bringing up the rear. This was something to do, at least.

“Just some simple questions first,” Eralan was saying, omni-tool alive again. It was sort of unnerving how quickly his demeanor changed from crabby to patient. “Full names and ages, if you don’t mind.”

Alita shifted slightly. “Um… W-well, I’m Alita’Valen nar Kavka.” She paused, then, seeing she wasn’t being interrupted, added with a nod to her friend next to Thie, “They’re Nalee’Zahsa nar Rayya. The, um, the tall one in red, he’s Keeto’Garin nar Vetska, and the other one is Aeran’Neraai nar Girial. Keeto and Aeran are… sixteen? Seventeen?”

“Seventeen,” Nalee offered helpfully.

Alita nodded quickly. “Right, they’re both seventeen. I’m fifteen, and Nalee’s sixteen.”

Eralan nodded, entering the new data into his omni-tool. “Thank you. Why are the four of you traveling together, Alita?”

“We’re on Pilgrimage. We, uh…” She shifted in her seat, looking at the ground. “We just started five days ago…”

Eralan’s brows shot up, but he quickly schooled his face back to neutrality. “And when did Keeto and Aeran get sick?”

Alita squirmed. “Four days ago.”

Eralan looked like he was having more trouble keeping his face neutral than he’d anticipated, quickly looking down at his omni-tool while he struggled with not reacting. “I see. So were the four days travel time, or..?”

“Travel time, yeah.” Alita bobbed her head. “We, um, we don’t have a lot of money, the docking fee ate most of what we have-“

“Don’t worry about the money. We see a lot of quarians on Pilgrimage here. We’ll work out the money once your friends have recovered, alright?”

Thie swore he could see the relief wash over Alita. “Oh, yes, thank you!”

Eralan nodded. “Don’t worry about it. Now, do you know how they got sick?”

Alita blinked, then slowly put her head in her hands. “Well… Keeto had a suit rupture he didn’t notice while he was working with the engines, and… So it turns out Keeto and Aeran are gay and together… Go ahead and laugh, we did for _ages_ …”

Eralan grinned so wide Thie wasn’t sure if his face had enough room for it, but he managed to keep the laughter suppressed enough that it was just silent shoulder-shaking. Axilus, on the other hand, burst out laughing so hard that when Thie turned to look at him, he’d already collapsed to his knees, mandibles flared out as wide as they would go and arms quaking as he tried to keep himself up.

Thie smiled in spite of himself, watching Axilus play the fool as Eralan continued questioning Alita. This was more entertaining, anyway.

By the time Axilus had pulled himself back together, Eralan was wrapping up questioning Alita, and the nurse had returned with a mug of something steaming hot, which Alita was drinking carefully through a straw. Eralan glanced at them, then back at Alita. “Will you be alright here? I have other patients who need attention, but Dr. Tirnnonis should be out soon with news about your friends.”

Alita sniffled, then nodded. “I’ll be okay.”

Eralan patted her shoulder, then unfolded himself and stood up. Thie moved aside a little, and he brushed past him to head for the front desk.

Thie was wondering if he should try talking to the other two quarians when he heard Eralan stumble and curse, muttering something about getting a bell. He turned a bit, then jumped as a familiar red drell appeared next to him.

The drell took no notice of him, eating what Thie thought might be a sandwich of some sort with his attention focused on Alita. He shambled over, not even kind of reacting when Alita went stiff at the sight of him, just continuing to eat. He didn’t seem to have much sense of portion control, Thie noticed- one cheek bulged with food, but he just kept stuffing his face. Maybe it was the “starving to death” thing.

Clambering up onto the chair Eralan had just vacated, the drell crouched with his free hand between his feet and his weight balanced precariously on his toes, still just staring intently at Alita. All parties were silent, just… waiting.

Then the drell’s hand flashed up, seizing a handful of Alita’s hood.

Alita jerked away slightly, and Thie started to lunge for the drell. But then he realized the drell wasn’t really doing anything; he was just… _holding_ the fabric, rubbing it between his fingers and staring at it. Alita apparently figured this out as well, because she didn’t try to get further away, though she didn’t relax.

The drell took no notice of the collective discomfort, simply continuing to rub the fabric between his fingers and watch how it moved. He wasn’t hurting Alita, so Thie decided against doing anything. He knew nothing about this drell, especially not how he’d react to Thie shooing him away, and he wasn’t terribly keen on finding out.

The clinic door chirped, and the drell’s head shot up. The next moment, he was gone, only a scrabbling of scales against metal telling Thie which direction he’d taken his disappearing act. Thie started to turn and look where he’d gone, but before he could try to catch a glimpse of dull red, Axilus squawked. “Officer Arnnek, sir!”

Thie’s head snapped back around to see that, sure enough, Solihim and his elcor partner were traipsing in, Solihim now sporting a new cloak to replace the one he’d given Axilus a few days ago. Solihim fluttered his mandibles amicably, walking over to the little cluster. “Madelivio. Haasn.” He bobbed his head to Alita and Nalee. “New quarians I don’t recognize. What’s up?”

Axilus lowered one mandible and rotated the other in little circles. “Nothing, sir. What are you doing here?”

Solihim opened his mouth to respond, but Settozyn beat him to it. “Amused: Solihim has strong paternal instincts and wanted to check on you children.”

Solihim’s neck got a little bit bluer. “That’s not it at all,” he protested. “Well, I _am_ here to check up on you. But not for any, like, _fatherly_ reasons!”

“With greater amusement than before: Sure.”

Solihim snorted. “I’m just saying, I’m… _concerned_ about the Madelivio kid ‘cause turians his age usually have the military to look after them, but he doesn’t.”

“Teasingly: You left mandatory only five months ago. He’ll be fine.”

Solihim grumbled mutinously, and Settozyn nudged him with his shoulder. “With mixed teasing and genuine assurance: You’ll be a good father someday.”

“Let’s not go there.”

“Amused: Dexirrim will bring it up sooner or later.”

“Yeah, well, Dex-” Solihim’s eyes widened, and his mandibles dropped. “Shit, Dex! I’m supposed to meet her for lunch soon, I almost forgot!”

“Entertained: You’re welcome.”

Solihim groaned and looked between Thie and Axilus. “You two, come with me. You could use the fresh air, I’m sure.”

Axilus flared the bottoms of his mandibles out. “What about your date?”

“You can grab something to eat and go wander around for a while. Come on.”

Thie met Axilus’ eyes. Axilus’ brow plates shot up, and Thie was sure his own face mirrored the expression, but he only shrugged, then followed Solihim and Settozyn back out the door.

Solihim heaved a huge sigh as they walked along the street, his nasal plates flexing out with how much air he had to force out. “So,” he said, adjusting his cloak around his cowl, “what’ve you two been up to recently?”

“Thie stayed up super late last night,” Axilus replied promptly. “Doing, uh… what _were_ you doing?”

Thie blinked, then slowly hunched his shoulders, feeling his face heat up. “Eralan’s cousin is _really_ good at _Galaxy of Fantasy_ ,” he muttered.

The group was quiet for a moment, then Solihim started laughing. “So you were doing _dungeon raids_ all night?”

“More like being carried through them, but it was for a good cause!”

“And what might that be?” Axilus teased, elbowing him in the side.

Thie huffed. “Salvaging my dignity. And the loot. There’s this one really cool kind of armor-”

“What level are you?” Solihim interrupted.

“I- what?”

“You started, like, yesterday, right?”

“Two days ago, but yeah.”

“So what level are you?”

Thie slowly looked down and muttered, “Thirty-seven.”

The laughter renewed, and even Settozyn seemed to be fluttering the flaps Thie was pretty sure were his mouth in amusement. To his relief, it died off after barely even a minute, and the group kept weaving their way through the ward, chattering about whatever came to mind. Thie filled the C-Sec officers in on the situation with Alita and Nalee; they seemed to get a good chuckle out of the “one got sick because he was sleeping with patient zero” part. In turn, the officers told them about a recent spike in cybercrime, mostly at casinos and other places with more money than they knew what to do with. “Somebody said something about hearing something in the walls, but I doubt it’s anything related,” Solihim was saying. “You couldn’t fit a salarian in there without trouble.”

“Agreeingly: They’re probably just hearing the vents running.”

Solihim made a quiet clucking sound to himself, then lifted his head as they approached a crowd. “Well, this is new.”

Axilus raised his head as well, trying to see. “Is there a demonstration or whatever?”

“Shouldn’t be. You need permits and junk for that.”

Settozyn shook himself a little. “Curious: Let’s get a closer look, then.”

The elcor took the lead, lumbering on into the crowd. Solihim motioned for Axilus and Thie to go on, then took up the rear, following the three through the mass of people that quickly parted for Settozyn. Thie had to move up to stand next to Settozyn, too short to see around the rest of the crowd.

There was a little clearing at the center, populated by two turians. One, a dark brown with a rather magnificent crest and handsome gold markings, was decked out in deep blue heavy armor laced through with thick, distinctive white stripes and a familiar logo emblazoned on one shoulder. The second was tiny, a little brown crestless with white markings Thie swore he’d seen before and clothing draped carefully to emphasize her arcing spurs, delicate waist, and fragile-looking toe-claws.

Busy scolding himself for writing mental poetry about spurs again, it took Thie a moment to pick up on what was going on. “Any plans now that you’ve been confirmed as a Spectre?” the little one was saying, mandibles lifted just slightly above what Thie had determined to be neutral position.

 _Spectre_. Thie swore he felt Axilus behind him tense with the word. Keelah, the big goon was probably making the stupidest, most awe-struck face possible right now.

The Spectre shuffled his feet, mandibles twitching erratically. “To be perfectly honest, ma’am,” he said, “I kind of promised my girlfriend I’d take her out to a nice dinner if I made it.”

The little one’s mandibles lifted even higher. “Aw,” she cooed. “That’s sweet. I’ll give you a tip, dearie, most places will trip over themselves to have someone high-profile like a Spectre eat there regularly. You can shop around, they’ll give you discounts trying to pull you in, I hear it’s fun. And no wait time on tables, either. That’s the best bit, really.”

The Spectre’s mandibles lifted and spread out, and he folded his arms. “I’ll keep that in mind, ma’am. Thanks.”

Her mandibles flicked wide, then she spun around neatly to face the camera hovering over her shoulder. “You heard it here first. Serlius Ezekian: combat engineer, decorated veteran, and newest agent of the Citadel Council. This has been Aediteia Epirian, reporting for Citadel NewsNet.”

The camera’s little light blinked off, and she bounced a bit on her toes, clasping her hands behind her back before turning back to the Spectre and bowing slightly. “Thank you very much, Serlius. Sorry to waste your time like that.”

Serlius shook his head, and Thie had to work not to be dazzled by the way the lights of the storefronts behind them framed his mandibles. “No trouble, Mistress Epirian. My pleasure.”

“Nice sentiment. I bet you tell all the reporters with important husbands that.” She gave a cheeky trill, bouncing on her toes again.

Somewhere behind Thie, Solihim cleared his throat. “Mistress Epirian,” he called, gently nudging Thie out of the way so he could get through. “I should have known you’d be up to something.”

The two new turians turned to look at them, the little one smiling cheerfully. “Officer Arnnek,” she said with a bob of her head. “Surprised to see me?”

“Honestly, I’m surprised I’m surprised,” Solihim said dryly. He led their little group up to the others, dipping his head respectfully. “I’d thought I’d heard something about a new Spectre getting sworn in today. Ezekian, is it?”

Serlius nodded. “Serlius Ezekian, sir.” He eyed the others, gaze scanning everyone before settling on Thie. “What’s with the quarian?”

Thie felt his stomach tie itself into about ten kinds of knot. The way Serlius said _quarian_ sounded like he meant something much, much worse.

At his elbow, he felt Axilus tense, then start vibrating with the subvocals Thie had grown used to. Serlius’ brow plates and mandibles lowered, and his crest went up. _An aggression display_ , a voice at the back of Thie’s mind reminded him.

The other two turians took note, and Solihim cleared his throat. Mistress Epirian, on the other hand, just set her plates and mandibles into an annoyed scowl, opened her mouth, and let out a demanding, shrill chirp.

The rumbling stopped, Serlius’ head went back to neutral position, and Mistress Epirian held her mandibles tight against her face, brow plates lowered. It was then that it hit Thie that she was easily the shortest turian of the four present, only maybe half a head taller than he was himself. And yet all three other turians were quiet at her command.

 _Damn_.

She snorted, mandibles still rigidly pressed against her face, and folded her arms. “Spectre Ezekian,” she said, all traces of the bubbly cheer she’d displayed earlier gone, “I think you should get going now. I’m sure the Council will have work for you to do.”

Serlius’ mandibles moved in and out slowly, then he jerked his head and bowed stiffly. “Of course, Mistress Epirian,” he said stonily, then straightened up and walked off.

She watched him go with miniscule mandible movements, then looked back to Thie and his group. “Sorry. My youngest just went off to mandatory a couple years ago. You don’t… You don’t really forget how to break up kids’ fights, I guess. I mean, Ezekian’s hardly a kid, he’s in his late twenties, but, well… I, uh, you get my point.”

Her mandibles fluttered quickly, and Thie nodded quickly, hoping that would make her feel better.

She attempted a smile. “I, uh… S-so who are you two, exactly?”

Solihim coughed into his fist. “The quarian is Thie’Haasn, his friend is Axilus Madelivio.”

“Madelivio?” She perked up a little, then smiled. “You wouldn’t happen to be-“

“Aephis’ son, yeah,” Axilus grumbled. “I get that a lot.”

Her mandibles dropped. “I-I’m sorry, I just- He’s my cousin-in-law, but he and my husband don’t get on very well, I’ve only met him a few times, and you look just like him…”

She started picking at her cuticles, mandibles held low and fluttering anxiously. Thie wasn’t sure if she was playing a part or if the perky woman from earlier had been the act.

Just to be safe, he elbowed Axilus and gave him a dirty look.

Axilus grunted, then sighed and shuffled his feet. “I’m sorry, ma’am, I didn’t mean anything by it. You didn’t do anything wrong, you didn’t know.” He paused, then added, “You said Dad’s your cousin-in-law? Who’s your husband, then?”

She paused, then smiled again, though less brightly than before. “Oh, you know him, I’m sure. First name Ierian…”

Axilus made a strangled noise, which Mistress Epirian seemed to understand and have been looking for. She laughed and clapped her hands, then neatly wrapped them around her waist and puffed out a happy little sigh. “Surprise.”

Thie looked between the two turians with a frown. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. “Should I know who that is..?”

Mistress Epirian bounced slightly on her toes. “Ierian Sparatus is the current representative to the Citadel Council for the Turian Empire,” she said proudly, in a voice that said she probably rehearsed saying it in the mirror a lot. “And my husband of twenty-six years.”

Thie thought for a moment, then his eyes widened. “Ohhhh, right.”

Axilus grunted. “Yeah, remember? He’s my first cousin once removed? We spent, like, an entire chapter talking about it?”

Thie frowned. “Chapter of what?”

Axilus shrugged. “My life? The story of you, me, and all the freaky bullshit that’s been happening for the past couple years? Take your pick.”

Mistress Epirian chuckled, then glanced down as her omni-tool beeped. She pulled it up, scanned the message, then hummed. “Speaking of Ierian, I have to go. Promised to meet him for lunch, and I should drop the footage off at the studio on the way up to the Presidium.”

Solihim bobbed his head. “Go ahead, ma’am. We need to get going, anyway. My girlfriend’s probably waiting for me already.”

She flicked her mandibles and smiled a little. “Ah, young love. Don’t keep her much longer, Arnnek, you hear? You don’t start getting leniency on being late until you’ve been married a decade or so.”

He saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”

She smiled and typed a message into her omni-tool, saying absently, “See you boys around. Enjoy your lunch.”

She sauntered off, and they watched her go for a moment before Solihim remembered to check his omni-tool for the time. He cursed and started off at a trot, and after a moment to catch on, Thie, Axilus, and Settozyn hurried after to go meet the mythical “Dex.”


	5. Wow, Look at How Straight They Are. And by Straight, We Mean Very Much Not.

The restaurant where they were to meet Dex was, to Axilus’ delight, a turian seafood place, signs in the window boasting dishes from across Palaven and the major colonies. The neon sign was a simple, minimalist script he remembered watching his mother use, the basic dialect all turians were taught in school as mandated by the empire.

_Seafood, Then Eat It_. Heh.

Idly pacing around by one of the windows was a beautiful turian woman, with silvery plates that darkened to soot around her nose and mouth, thin, bright red markings, and carefully-maintained talons, filed to a point and polished so they gleamed in the lights of the ward. Dressed comfortably but simply in a pastel pink hoodie and gray sweats, the flashiest part of her outfit were the gold rings adorning her mandibles. Ahead of Axilus, Solihim thrummed a greeting, subvocals ringing with delight and love and longing, and the pretty lady looked up, mandibles parting in a warm smile.

Axilus keened to himself, wondering if he was that obvious when he greeted Freiya. Spirits, no wonder Tol gave him shit over it.

Solihim made his way over to the pretty lady, mandibles a-flutter. “Sorry I’m late,” he said sheepishly. “Lost track of time, then Teia was doing her thing and there was a crowd…”

The woman just hummed, the reproach in her subvocals mixed with amusement and affection. “She didn’t give you any trouble, did she?”

“Teia? Nah. Sweetest lady there ever was. I’m almost jealous of our honorable councilor. _Almost_ ,” he added, leaning down to give her a little kiss. “You’re still prettier.”

She grinned, bumping her frontal plate against his. “Aw, I love you, too,” she cooed. “Now come on, I’m hungry.”

Solihim glanced back at the rest and gestured with his head, and Dex’s mandibles went down and out as Axilus and Thie moved closer. “I thought the kids would be leaving with Settozyn. You didn’t tell me this would be a double date,” she said, her voice sharp.

Solihim lowered his head, thrumming apologetically. “They need the food,” he said sheepishly. “They’re staying with Tirnonnis, over at the clinic. Thought they could stand something other than rations for once. Settozyn’s going back to HQ though, don’t worry about him.”

Dex’s mandibles snapped back to her face, held rigid so they hid her teeth from sight. “Fine. But you owe me for this, Arnnek.”

“I know, Dex. Come on, let’s get a table, then we’ll do introductions, ‘kay?”

“Okay, okay.”

Solihim gave her a brief nuzzle, entangling their fingers, then allowed her to lead him into the restaurant. Axilus looked at Thie, then shrugged and trailed after, for once keeping his mouth shut as a server led them to a corner booth. This was different from going out to eat with his parents or grandparents; with them, he was quiet out of respect. He’d gotten it drilled into his head from day one that good turians let the family and clan elders speak first in these situations, as they were older and more experienced with the galaxy. Here, though, he stayed silent because he wasn’t sure what to do. Nobody ever said what to do if somebody a decade older than you let you tag along on their hot date with their hot girlfriend.

The restaurant was, to Axilus’ relief, a quiet place. As rowdy and social of a species as turians were, they knew better than to disturb each other when eating. He sat himself between Thie and the rest of the place, one mandible tilted outward at the bottom while the other stayed loose at the baseline to warn away anyone who might consider being an ass.

Dex hummed as she leaned back, subvocals heavy with laziness interwoven with interest. “So, Sol,” she said, propping up her head on one hand so Axilus could see her talons were striped the same red as her markings, “what’s with the teenagers?”

Solihim fluttered his mandibles and let out a soft keen, focusing intently on his menu. “I, uh.” He swallowed. “The turian’s Axilus Madelivio. Quarian’s Thie’Haasn nar… Olyna, wasn’t it?”

Thie nodded, and Solihim smiled, a wave of proud subvocals hitting Axilus in the chest. “Right, Thie’Haasn nar Olyna. Ax, Thie, this is my girlfriend, Dexirrim Alelius.”

_Dexirrim_. It was a pretty name. Fitting. And her eyes were the most _enchanting_ shade of green.

Okay, Axilus was _definitely_ jealous of Solihim. His girlfriend was _beautiful_.

She flexed her mandibles at him, subvocally expressing both interest and apology; _you’re cute, but no_. He felt his neck heat up, and he quickly hid behind his menu, trying to ignore the amusement that rumbled across to him next.

He had to admit, he hadn’t expected as wide a variety of dishes as the restaurant provided. Half of the things on the menu he had never even _heard_ of, much less eaten. He decided to stick with what he knew, finding the section dedicated to Zouklian dishes he’d spent childhood summers eating and helping his grandfather with in the kitchen. He’d always had a weakness for Trierceo’s _tamichor_ \- a river eel that lurked among the plantlife, killed by snapping its spine, kept whole, smoked, and dipped in whatever sauce or spice the cook pleased. His grandparents and mother had been so proud the first time he’d managed to swallow one whole rather than needing to bite it into more manageable pieces. He’d be remiss not to see how a Citadel restaurant measured up to the standards Trierceo had instilled in him.

He was just starting to debate whether he wanted fruit or not when Thie nudged his side. He fluttered his mandibles, then looked down at Thie, mentally kicking himself when he subvocalized a questioning trill he knew Thie wouldn’t hear.

Thie glanced between him and the menu, then hissed, “I don’t know what I’m looking at. What should I get?”

Axilus blinked, mandibles spreading slightly. “Thie, I don’t think they’re gonna put anything through a blender for you.”

“I know that. I’ll just take my mask off.”

Axilus frowned. “You’ll get sick.”

“What’s your point? I’ll be okay. I don’t want more nutrient paste.”

“Tirnonnis and Eralan are gonna be mad.”

“Then we won’t tell them. Come on, Axilus, help me out here.”

Axilus sucked in a breath. “All right, man, if you insist.” He thought for a moment, then scanned his own menu. “You don’t have the same equipment as we do, so you’re gonna want something you can cut into chunks…”

Thie’s eyes looked like he was probably grimacing. “You eat it _whole?_ ”

“Well, yeah. Do these look like chewing teeth to you?”

Thie made a grumbling sort of noise. “Whatever. What can I eat?”

Axilus huffed a bit, then looked over the menu some more. “Uhh… Here.” He tapped Thie’s menu. “ _Dansa_. Little bite-sized fish that travel in huge schools and breed like it’s nothing. Everything on Palaven eats the damn things, but it never puts a dent in populations. They’re really good fried. Mom used to give me and Tol little bags full of them for snacks at school.”

Thie gave him a long look, then shrugged and grunted. Axilus decided to take that as a good sign.

After the server returned to take their orders and menus, Dexirrim hummed, tracing patterns into the table with her talon. “So a Madelivio and a quarian walk onto the Citadel,” she deadpanned. “Mind filling me in on the rest?”

Axilus looked at Thie, who looked back at him and just shrugged. “Well,” Thie started, turning back to Dexirrim, “Long story short, I’m looking for something I can take back to the Fleet as a Pilgrimage gift.”

“Pilgrimage?”

“Coming-of-age thing,” Axilus clarified. “Like the first hunt.”

“Ah. So you’re looking for something to prove your worth.”

Thie nodded. “I could’ve brought back some data on the geth, but I gave it to my friend so she could finish her Pilgrimage. She deserved it more than I did.”

“That’s kind of sweet. What’d make a good gift, then?”

Thie started wringing his wrists. “Well, I’d heard there was a used ship dealer around here somewhere, but…”

Dexirrim and Solihim both perked up. “Hey, I think I know the place,” Solihim said.

Dexirrim nodded. “Zacon Shir’s place. He’s got some decent stuff. Hunks of junk, mostly, but atmo- and relay-worthy hunks of junk, at the very least. You can probably get a decent price for something, if you play your cards right.”

Solihim bobbed his head. “Shir’s an okay guy, I’ve known him to haggle.”

Axilus felt an idea spark in the back of his head. “My mom’s an aero engineer,” he said. “I can call her for help.”

He glanced over at Thie, who looked like he’d just had an epiphany. “Ax, that’s the smartest thing you’ve said all week.”

He thrummed, pleased, and the turians across the table nodded together. “Right, that’s that, then,” Solihim said. “When we’re done here, I’ll show you the way. It’s on the way to Dex’s ship, anyway, so it’s not like we’d be going too far out of our way.”

“Your ship?” Axilus asked. “What do you do?”

Dexirrim flicked a mandible. “I’m finishing up mandatory, and a business degree for once I’m out.”

Solihim lifted his head and trilled a boast. “She also models on the side,” he said, the bragging in his subvocals throbbing so hard in Axilus’ cowl it hurt. He glanced at Thie out of the corner of his eye, figuring he had to have felt Solihim’s thrum. But now that the conversation had moved on, Thie had gone quiet again, sinking back against the booth and playing with a small hole in the cushion.

Meanwhile, Dexirrim’s neck had gone faintly blue. “It’s just for extra money,” she muttered. “Somebody thought I’d make a good model a couple years back and offered me a good sum, and things went from there. Figure it’ll help bolster Sol’s C-Sec salary while I’m getting settled after mandatory.”

Axilus flicked his mandibles. “So you’re pretty serious, then?”

Dexirrim nodded. “Not married or nothin’, but everyone keeps making jokes about it.”

Solihim coughed into his fist. “Yeah, about that…”

Dexirrim’s head whipped around. “Solihim Arnnek, if the next words out of your mouth are a proposal…”

His mandibles spread nervously, and hers dropped, then lifted back up. “Spirits, you _would_ ask in a restaurant with other people with us. Dumbass.” She leaned over and pecked his cheek, then settled back in her seat. “You’re gonna take me out to a nice place and do a better proposal later, though. Something big like the overdramatic goofball you are.”

Solihim reached over and hugged her, making various delighted subvocal noises, then kissed her head and sat back. “Of course, of course. You know I will.”

After that, the conversation fell into idle chatter, discussing various aspects of their lives. With a sinking feeling in his gizzard, Axilus couldn’t help but notice Thie remaining silent, only offering a sentence or two when he was directly addressed. Apparently Dexirrim and Solihim picked up on it as well, and eventually stopped speaking to him, instead talking only to Axilus. On the one hand, it was easier to hold a conversation with other turians when he didn’t have to worry about a quarian understanding.

On the other, he’d thought Thie had been getting better earlier.

Thie didn’t react much again until the food was brought out. As Dexirrim and Solihim dug into their own food, Thie carefully sat up, looking over at Axilus’ plate, where the _tamichor_ was neatly arranged in a coil. “How are you supposed to eat that?” he asked kind-of quietly, a note of what Axilus thought was probably disgust in his voice.

Axilus flicked a mandible at him. “Watch this.”

He leaned down and spread out his mandibles, then seized the eel by the head and whipped his neck up and back, parting his jaws as wide as they would go and choking it down in one relatively fluid movement. Relatively. At least the part to get the eel in the air was fluid. They never went down all at once, too big. Forcing it down his throat whole was the tricky part, and it was always tempting to bite.

Thie made a noise that was definitely disgusted, and Axilus chuckled to himself. “You still want those fish?”

Thie glared at him, then reached up and removed his mask.

Maybe five of sixteen _dansa_ in, Axilus noticed the couple across the table were staring.

At _Thie_.

“Aren’t you guys s’posed to, like, I dunno… keep those on?” Solihim asked, mandibles fluttering wildly.

Thie glanced up momentarily, then back down at his food. Axilus coughed. “Aha, yeah, he’s, uh… He’s kinda a bad quarian,” he admitted with a helpless shrug. “He did it on Palaven a lot, too.”

Dexirrim’s nasal plates flexed out, and her mandibles went down and out. “Gross. You’re gonna get really sick.”

Thie grunted. “Don’t care.”

“Why not? You could die.”

Thie didn’t respond, and Axilus coughed. _Bad topic, bad topic, steer it away, dumbass_ , his brain chanted at him.

He couldn’t think of a new topic in time. “What’re the scars from?” Dexirrim asked, trilling curiously. “They look like they hurt.”

Thie stopped moving all together. _Ah, shit_. “That’s, uh, a long story,” Axilus said with a short, high laugh. “And not really appropriate for the current setting, y’know? So, like, I dunno, uh, I…”

Solihim caught on, and bobbed his head. “So, Ax,” he said, a bit too loudly, “you’re a Madelivio, right? Got any wild family stories?”

Dexirrim chirped. “Hey, yeah, Madelivio stories are always worth a listen. What’s the word?”

Relieved, Axilus racked his brain for a memory, settling on his grandfather’s. It doubled as both how Octyrus had earned most of the scars on his plates and how he’d met Grandma Corinn, so Axilus had heard it more than a few times growing up.

To their credit, Solihim and Dexirrim listened with rapt attention to Axilus’ story, ignoring Thie entirely as he continued eating in silence, for which Axilus was grateful. The less attention they paid to Thie right now, the better off he’d be.

As he tried to mimic the sounds his grandfather had always made when telling the story, Axilus tried to ignore the sense gnawing at his gizzard that something was very, very wrong with his friend.

* * *

 

Solihim and Dexirrim, after graciously paying for lunch, dropped Axilus and Thie off at the used ship dealer with a wave and a few joking remarks for them to stay out of trouble. Then a krogan had walked between the two parties, and they were gone. Axilus looked at Thie, Thie looked at him, and they both shrugged and headed into the dealership proper.

There was a small cluster of aliens near the entrance. As they passed by, Axilus distinctly heard somebody mutter, “Watch your wallets.” His head whipped around, mandibles flared and a hiss already boiling in his throat, but the speaker wasn’t talking further, so he had to content himself with clacking his mandibles angrily and snorting. With dismay, he noticed Thie’s shoulders hunch and his head lower.

Once they were a decent enough distance away, he reached over and rubbed Thie’s shoulder, humming apologetically. “Don’t listen to them,” he said softly. “Who cares what they think? They feel the need to make shitty comments about everyone, so they’re not worth your time.”

Thie looked up at him, then back at his feet with a mumbled “Thanks.”

Axilus felt a little flutter in his chest when he noticed Thie started walking a couple steps closer to him.

Glancing around at the various displays, he asked Thie, “So what should we look for?”

Thie was quiet for a minute, then said, “Something rundown. We need it to make it through relays, but be as close to its last legs as possible. The engineers on the Flotilla can fix it up and keep it running for ages, but it has to get there first.”

Axilus nodded. “Right. You look through the data, see what you can find, I’ll call my mom and ask for help.”

Thie nodded and turned to the nearest rack of ads for different ships. Positioning himself between Thie and the majority of the rest of the dealership, Axilus pulled up his omni-tool, set it up for a private call that would transmit output through an extension on his head rather than the base speakers on the wrist device, and keyed in the code to call his mother. Wait, shit, it was the middle of the afternoon in Cipritine, she’d be mad if he interrupted work… He snorted to himself and shook his head, hitting the call button and hoping his mother had already left work for the day.

One ring. Two rings. Three.

His mother picked up halfway through the fifth ring, tired subvocals making it through the call before her voice did. “Axi, baby, I’ve told you before, don’t call me at work.”

He keened softly. “Sorry, Mom, but it’s important. Are you okay? You don’t sound good.”

“I’m okay, sweetheart, just tired from work. The project I’m working on is frustrating me. What do you need?”

Axilus fluttered his mandibles slowly. “Well, see, we’ve got an idea to get our hands on something for Thie’s Pilgrimage gift, but neither of us really knows what to look for, so we were hoping you’d help.”

She hummed, then snorted. “I can try. What is it?”

He quickly explained where they were and what they wanted, and his mother made a slow churr as she thought. “Okay, I can think of a few things. Found any options yet?”

Axilus turned to Thie and nudged him. “Mom wants to know what you’ve found.”

Thie looked at him, then back at the data on display. “There’s a couple ships. Huge discounts because they’re junkers, and Solihim said the owner’d be down to haggle…”

“Lemme see.”

Thie handed him the datapads, and Axilus arranged them neatly so he could read them off to his mother. Thie had found an old asari frigate and two freighters, one human and one turian. His mother listened patiently as Axilus stumbled his way through words he didn’t understand, correcting him gently when he messed up and explaining what it was.

At the end of the list, she hummed softly. “Give me a moment and I’ll look up that asari frigate, I don’t have a lot of experience with their work,” she said. “I wouldn’t trust the human ship, I’ve been working with their handiwork lately for my project and they have no idea what they’re doing even with up-to-date models. Something used is going to be a piece of shit not worth the money you throw at it, even with quarian intervention. The turian freighter… Let me think. The Arustor line of freighters was the last one to use the old Acasvius drives, before we upgraded to the Iherius models, which were then replaced by Tyxirian drives. A twice-outdated core like that is going to be dead before the century’s out, and that’s if you were buying new. How old did you say it is?”

Axilus checked the datapad. “Forty-seven years.”

“Mm, yeah, that core won’t last another… Two decades seems fair. Taking it to the Fleet would at least give it a chance of seeing the turn of the century. Arustor freighters also had issues with steering. Nothing to render it unflyable, just annoying. They’re finicky. And, of course, freighter. Not a huge amount of armor. It’ll hold up okay if it gets besieged, but huge space battles are going to rip it to shreds. Wouldn’t recommend it for fleet defense by a long shot.”

Axilus clicked his mandibles. “What about the asari ship?”

“Page is still loading, be patient. Hmm… Okay, here we go. Alenaia frigates use Nayanika drives, which are still in use. You said the thing got beat up in a fight?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Mm. Probably threw the balance off. Says here Alenaias had issues with getting off-balance after fights and needing repairs every time. Not good.”

“So, to sum up, you don’t trust the human ship, the asari one will go lopsided in a fight, and any weird noises we hear from the turian one are probably its death throes and we should evacuate.”

“Basically, yes. The asari one is your best bet for longevity, but the turian one will be more stable.”

Axilus bobbed his head. “You’re a lifesaver, Mom. Thanks.”

“No problem, sweetheart. Take care, okay? Stay safe. Don’t let Thie run himself into the ground.”

“I will, Mom. And get some rest, you sound awful.”

She chuckled to herself. “You and your brother and your dad are all so sweet, worrying about me the way you all do. I’ll be okay, sweetheart, but thank you anyway. I’ll ask your dad for a ‘take care of Mom’ night, is that alright?”

Axilus keened quietly. “Okay, Mom. I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby. I have to get back to work now, talk to you later, alright?”

“Uh-huh. Bye, Mom.”

“Bye, Axi.”

The call ended, and Axilus looked at Thie. “Mom says either the asari one or the turian one, but not the human one. Asari one’ll go off-kilter if it takes a bad enough hit, and the turian one’ll only make it to 2200 if it tries hard and believes in itself.”

Thie blinked slowly at him, then sighed and folded his arms. “Going off-kilter would be bad… That’s easier to fix when you can afford to wait around for repairs, but the Flotilla doesn’t really have that luxury.”

“So, the turian one?”

“The turian one.”

Axilus nodded and handed Thie the correct datapad, putting the other two back in their places.

Now for the hard part.

The volus at the counter seemed to instinctively know why they wanted the ship. Probably saw his fair share of quarians on Pilgrimage, Axilus figured. The price he rattled off was nearly twice the one listed on the datapad, with reasons so flimsy Axilus could smell the crock of shit.

Given how fast he dropped back down to the original price once Axilus showed his teeth- literally- he got the sense this particular volus was either really cowardly or really smart.

Axilus did most of the haggling, since he was the one who’d spoken with his mother. The finicky steering knocked off a thousand credits, then another couple thousand for the scarce armor. Then the trump card, the twice-outdated drive core and a TEC engineer’s assurance that it wouldn’t survive a vorcha’s lifespan. That nearly _halved_ the prize, much to even Axilus’ surprise.

If it weren’t for the suit, Axilus was sure he’d be able to smell the volus’ nervousness. The more he talked, and the more he decried the ship as a hunk of sheet metal held together by two and a half rusty rivets, the more eager to comply the volus seemed.

Admittedly, the most Axilus had ever really haggled had been while visiting his grandparents over the summer, when Trierceo would take him and Tollak along to the market on weekends and bicker with fishers and farmers for fresh food for dinner that night. Then he’d been a kid running around getting items off a list, and the sellers had all known either him or his grandfather, so there was no real urgency in trying to get the price down. This was a lot tenser; they needed the price as low as they could possibly get it, and the volus had no real motive to play nice.

Finally the volus wheezed, “Fine,” _khhht_ , “twenty-five hundred.” _Khhht_. “And not a credit less.” _Khhht_.

Axilus nodded sharply and handed over his credit chit, trying to ignore the way the skin under his mandibles pounded in time with his heart. He had enough. He _should_ have enough. He remembered checking his account obsessively on the way to the Citadel days ago.

It went through. The volus handed his chit back and pushed a datapad across the counter to him, and he sighed slowly as Thie signed everywhere the volus said to.

They had a ship.

They had a _gift_.

Thie took the datapad and the launch codes from the volus, then took the lead as they left the dealership.

They made it maybe halfway back to the clinic before Thie spun around and hugged him. “Keelah, Ax, thank you so much,” he breathed. “I- I don’t know what to say, I just- I-“

Axilus wasn’t quite sure what came over him, but he hugged Thie so tight he picked him up off the ground and spun him around, brow plate pressed to the top of Thie’s visor so his head would stay still.

When he stopped spinning, he realized his mandibles were fluttering quickly but gently, stretched out so they tapped against the glass of Thie’s mask.

He froze, then dropped Thie abruptly, keening with embarrassed subvocals. _Spirits_ …

Thie didn’t seem to notice, staring off into space and sitting the way he’d landed. “Keelah…” he was whispering to himself.

Axilus felt his neck heat up, and he reached down to offer Thie a hand. “C’mon, Thie, we should, uh…” He swallowed. “We should get going.”

Thie jumped a bit, looking up at him. “Huh?”

“All our stuff is back at the clinic,” he reminded him. “And we should tell Eralan and the rest we’re leaving, anyway, so they don’t freak out or anything.”

“Oh, right…”

Thie accepted his hand, and Axilus pulled him to his feet. Then they turned and started off back towards the clinic, Axilus still thinking about the way his mandibles had felt against Thie’s mask.


	6. When Will the Straight Police Stop These Sinful Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short update this time, because it's technically an epilogue/bridge between the end of last chapter and the start of the next fic in the series.

Saying their goodbyes at the clinic took a bit longer than anticipated.

Eralan and Dr. Tirnonnis were busy when they got there, in back with patients. Instead, they were greeted by a nurse and a mostly-empty waiting room, with Alita and Nalee, of course. The younger quarians, it seemed, were almost as excited for Thie as he was himself, congratulating him enthusiastically and wishing him luck in getting back to the Fleet safely. “And, um, if you see our parents,” Alita added sheepishly, “could you please not tell them what happened? It’s kind of embarrassing…”

“You were okay with us knowing, though,” Axilus pointed out.

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, you’re not my dad.”

“Yeah, fair enough.”

Alita looked around Thie as a door pinged behind him, and he turned to see Eralan meandering out. “Oh! Eralan!” she said, moving to intercept. “How are Keeto and Aeran?”

He blinked at her, and Thie swore he could see the buffering symbol over his head. “Oh, right. Your friends will be fine. Gahlan says they should make a full recovery before the week’s out.”

Alita bounced a bit on her toes. “Really? That’s great!” Then she shrank again. “Oh, uh… We still don’t have any money…”

Eralan shook his head. “I told you, don’t worry about it.” His eyes rolled back momentarily, then he refocused on her. “An anonymous benefactor made a rather generous donation recently. We’ll be fine financially long enough for your friends to recover and for you four to continue on your way.”

“Oh, really?” She perked right back up. Thie was pretty sure her delight was visible in the gentle lighting of the waiting room.

Eralan nodded, then looked over at Axilus and Thie, arms crossed. “Arenneta told me you two were planning on leaving.”

Thie nodded. “We’ve got a ship and everything. Just need to grab our stuff, and we’ll be out of your way.”

His membranes twitched, and he shook his head slightly. “Not quite. I’d like to run some final tests, make sure you don’t need further treatment for anything before you go. If you’ve got a virus or anything, the Fleet’s not exactly going to thank you for bringing it back with you.”

Thie sighed, then moved so Eralan could check him over. “This won’t take long,” Eralan said, almost cheerfully. Almost. “You quarians build sensors and everything right into your suits. Makes my job infinitely easier, and you can get on your way infinitely faster.” He hit a few buttons on his omni-tool and took his readings, then nodded to himself. “Right, you’re going to feel a jolt.”

“What?”

“Hold still.”

Thie let out a yelp as a current passed into his amp and ran the length of his spine, then dissipated into the rest of him until he was left with just a tingling sensation in the tips of his fingers and toes. It didn’t _hurt_ , not really; it was more of a buzz than anything else, like somebody dragging their fingers along his skinny frame.

He shook himself, then huffed. “Well, that was a shock.”

Axilus let out a sharp bark of laughter while Eralan just groaned. “And I thought my _cousin’s_ puns were bad.”

He frowned. “What p- _oh_. Oh, _keelah_ , I’m sorry.”

Eralan rolled his eyes but checked his omni-tool. “Your implant’s working fine. Good thing, too. Hate to have to hold you back for another several weeks while we pull it out and put in a new one.”

“Yeah, no, not again.”

Eralan squinted at him slightly, then shook his head. “Have you grabbed your things yet?”

Axilus grunted. “We were moving them to the ship when the little quarians wanted to say good-bye.”

“Then Madelivio, give me a moment to check you over, then I won’t keep you any longer.”

“Shouldn’t we say something to Tirnonnis?”

Eralan was already moving to scan Axilus. “He’s busy. And by busy, I mean blackout drunk.”

Axilus sighed heavily but stood still, waiting for Eralan to finish. Thie swallowed, watching Axilus’ mandibles flicker infinitesimally, remembering the way they’d tapped his helmet in what he knew in the pit of his stomach approximated to a kiss. The taps had been gentler than expected, more like tender brushes against the metal. There hadn’t even really been any rubbing. Axilus’ mandibles had just… ghosted along his helmet, the harsh, hot air coming out of his nasal plates fogging up Thie’s visor in the heavy, long exhales Thie had come to expect from turians, his eyes closed in an almost serene expression in direct contrast to the fervent energy radiating off him otherwise…

Just for a moment, caught up in the rush of Axilus’ excitement, he’d let his own eyes close, too.

Then Axilus had dropped him, and the moment was gone, but his brain had still been catching up to that fact, so he just sat there like an idiot for a few minutes processing that he’d just been _kissed_. By a _turian_. A crested, _male_ turian, no less.

And he’d felt no inclination to push him away.

* * *

 

Eralan watched the _Eijalsin_ freighter pull out of the docks, arms crossed. He’d left the clinic under Arenneta’s watch while he went with Haasn and Madelivio to see them off. It didn’t seem right, letting them go without. Not after how long they’d hung around, and after what they’d been through.

Besides, he needed a bit more privacy than the clinic allowed for what he was about to do.

He pulled up his omni-tool and keyed in the usual code to call his cousin. Thank the gods for auto-complete; it knew who he wanted before he’d typed in the second letter of his cousin’s extranet address.

The tone rang twice before the pick-up. “Valern.”

“Hey, Val, it’s me.” He started pacing, calling up the omni-tool extension that would allow Valern’s end of the conversation to not be broadcast across the docks. “You somewhere private?”

“One moment.” Eralan heard movement, then the ambient noises of the salarian embassy faded away. “Okay, go.”

“Remember that biotic quarian our friends at Mannovai said to look out for?”

Valern was quiet a moment. Then, “Tell me you have something.”

Eralan smiled to himself. “Hope you remembered that agent’s meeting point. You’re going to make some new friends.”

* * *

 

Axilus finished checking everything on the dash as they cleared the Citadel’s arms, then puffed out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. “There. She should be good to get back to the Fleet.”

Thie had been pacing somewhere behind him since Axilus had started takeoff procedure. Now he came up closer, looking over Axilus’ handiwork. “Right, so we’ll stop off at Palaven, get you back to your mom, then I’ll set a course for the coordinates Alita and Nalee gave us.”

Axilus paused, then shook his head. “I’m not going back to Palaven.”

Thie was silent for just a moment. “What?”

His mandibles flickered anxiously. “Remember what I said before we left for the Citadel? Right then, you needed me with you more than my mom needed me home. You still do.”

He didn’t look at Thie. He couldn’t bring himself to. But he knew the way he must have been tensing, must have been mentally short-circuiting. “But- but-” Thie stuttered. “But you don’t belong with the Fleet, you belong with other turians, and Freiya, and your mom, and the Hierarchy, and-“

“Thie.”

He turned to look at him, and Thie went quiet and completely still, in the middle of wringing his wrists again. Axilus took a deep breath, then pushed himself to his feet and carefully took Thie’s hands in his own. He looked Thie in the eyes and, for a moment, saw nothing but fear, even with the thick glass between them. Trying to be reassuring, he lifted his mandibles a tiny bit and spread them just a smidge, letting out a tentative subvocal. “I’m not leaving you. You’re not going to drop me off and go about the rest of your life, you’re not going to go back to the Fleet and play pretend at being a good quarian with capital letters and a trademark logo, and you’re sure as hell not going to crash and burn. Not if I have anything to say about it. You can’t get rid of me that easy.” He leaned down and touched his frontal plate to the top of Thie’s visor. “After all the shit we’ve been through together- that slaver ship, the little adventure with the geth, Kel, everything that happened back on the Citadel- we’re _pack_ , Thie. Pack doesn’t turn away from pack. Like it or not, we belong together. Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”

The noises that came out of Thie were the kind Axilus didn’t have words for. He was reminded very distinctly of his mother’s farewell to him before basic- sort of choking, sort of sobbing, sort of both, sort of neither. Then he managed to get out, “What if they don’t let you?”

“We’ll talk them into it. We’ll tell them… We’ll tell them you’re still not over Kel, it’s better to have a familiar face around. It’ll work out. And if it doesn’t, well.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll always be a call away. Any time, any place, you call, I’ll answer.”

Thie was silent for a long while. Then he took a deep, shuddery breath and exhaled, “Okay.”

Axilus smiled and pulled Thie in for a tight hug, then let him go and went back to his seat to set the course for the relay jump. He heard Thie settle into the copilot’s chair, but paid him no mind, and the cockpit settled into a comfortable silence.

Maybe two minutes out from the relay, Axilus chuffed out a little laugh. “Not gonna lie, that came out a _lot_ better than I expected it to.”

Thie mulled this over for a moment, then laughed, and Axilus grinned. It was a good sound.

 _Maybe things will be okay_ , he thought to himself as the _Eijalsin_ entered the relay approach.

* * *

 

Admiral Shala’Raan vas Tonbay, as they discovered, was delighted to welcome Thie to the _Tonbay_ , especially after he presented the freighter- and her assessment by a certified TEC engineer- to Captain Halin’Rath. Axilus, a hulking monster compared to the quarians who greeted them, was slightly less welcome, but at least Raan could be civil. After an initial exclamation of surprise, she calmed herself quickly, and allowed Axilus to explain himself.

When Thie was little, he never would have thought he’d willingly join the marines. Yet here he was, practically jumping to volunteer, tripping over his tongue as he tried to explain his reasoning. Raan, to his great relief, at least seemed open to the idea- particularly the part where Axilus would go with him.

“Why don’t we do this,” she suggested. “You will undergo a psychological evaluation, and the results will determine whether or not your friend may stay with the Migrant Fleet for your mental and emotional well-being. In the meantime, I will contact Admiral Gerrel and discuss the matter with him. If all goes well, a shuttle will take you to the _Neema_ for your enlistment into the Migrant Fleet Marines, and Han’Gerrel will decide what to do from there. Is this agreeable to you?”

Thie barely had to think before the “yes, ma’am” was slipping out of his mouth.


End file.
